Kira Again
by Gebrelle
Summary: This story is set 7 years after the conclusion of the Kira case. Nina is a brilliant high school senior, and when she is granted a DeathNote so that she may follow in Light's footsteps, she begins her journey, starting her own crusade. One name at a time
1. Chapter 1

-AURTHOR'S NOTE-

Right….so…. I am allowed to have a note at the beginning and end of my story but no where in between right? So I just thought I would prattle for a bit.

This story is not for the simple minded. And most of it will not make sense unless you have either read or watched DEATH NOTE. This is my very first FanFic EVER so I don't know how many readers I'll draw at all. If you like my story and want me to continue you can write a review. I'm not afraid of criticism so fire away! Hope you like my story!

Oh! And before I forget I already know that "No chat style text…" stuffs. But I think it will be okay because the whole story is not told like that and it is a chat on a computer. Deal with it.

P.S. Our story is set seven years after the conclusion of the Kira case.

-END OF NOTE-

DEATH NOTE

Chapter 1

Nina frowned and tried to concentrate on her text book. Tomorrow was a big test in World History class. She sighed and closed the book. Her boredom was too strong to do any more studying tonight.

She left her desk and flopped down on her bed. Restlessly she dug around in the plastic tote beside her bed, and found the remote for the television set. She arranged her pillows before turning on the TV and began flicking though the channels.

As usual there was nothing on worth watching but the news. There was so rarely any good news. She frowned. Another criminal got away. Another murderer was released because of insufficient evidence. What was the world coming to? An end? Most likely.

She turned off the TV set and tossed the remote back into the tote. It wasn't too late to check her email tonight. She reached under her bed, where her laptop computer was charging, and waited for it to boot.

When she logged onto her myspace account the internet was running slow. Dad must be downloading movies again, she thought.

'Welcome Shadow Caster!' the welcome message said. She had two new messages, one new comment, and three friend requests.

All three requests were from people she didn't like. She blocked all of them. They were rude at school and that was enough. She didn't need their stupidity on her myspace as well.

Her one comment was from a friend she had made over the web she hadn't talked to in ages and it, appropriately, said "long time no chat." One of her messages was from Tom. Every one got one. It was about an up and coming concert or something. She deleted it. The other was from her best friend at school, Anne. It read "Hey! I'm online till 12. Let's chat." It was only 8:30 so she opened her yahoo and started a chat with Anne. The chat box loaded quickly enough, even if her dad was downloading anime.

Shadow Caster- Hey

Ebony- Hey! =)

Shadow Caster- I wish we could talk more at school. Don't you?

Ebony- Yeah

Shadow Caster- Learn anything good today?

Ebony- No

Ebony- I take that back

Ebony- Yes

Ebony- There is a new student. He is sssoooo cute!

Shadow Caster- You think all guys are cute.

Ebony- Not true!

Shadow Caster- Well, what's his name?

Ebony- Nathen Roger.

Ebony- But get this. He has naturally white hair.

Shadow Caster- I bet it's dyed.

Ebony- Well if you see him you'll know. It's not dyed.

Shadow Caster- Yeah right. I rarely see you at school.

Shadow Caster- Our school is in the middle of New York. It's HUGE! I met a boy yesterday that has been here since freshman year. I had never seen him before then. Guess what? He is a senior like us! I don't think I will get to see Nathen soon. Maybe graduation… LOL!

Ebony- Not funny.

Shadow Caster- You're right. Not funny. Dead serious.

Shadow Caster- Any information on our suspect?

Ebony- Oh yeah! He has an alibi. He was living out of state at the time.

Shadow Caster- Oh…

Ebony- Hey! Don't sound so down! We'll find out who killed your mom! It's just that it was so many years ago that, other you're your memory and a few other things, there's not much to go off of.

Shadow Caster- Yeah…

Shadow Caster- Maybe we should just give up. It was just too long ago. We've done all we physically can.

Ebony- No! I didn't mean it like that! We shouldn't just give up! We'll do a little more research and do our best!

Ebony- We'll find him soon.

Shadow Caster- Thnx…

Shadow Caster- … Or… we could approach it a different way.

Ebony- … How?

Shadow Caster- All cases are documented on the police department's computer including older ones too!

Shadow Caster- If we hacked into their database, we could use the evidence stored there along with ours!

Ebony- Hold up a sec!

Ebony- You're talking about the police's database! The government's database!

Shadow Caster- Government?

Ebony- Yes! They share the same server to ease their budget.

Shadow Caster- So we have to be careful. That's not out of the ordinary is it?

Ebony- Let's talk about this.

Shadow Caster- BRB!

Ebony- NO! WAIT!

Nina minimized the chat box and ran a few searches to see if they kept their database online. Sure enough they did. She found the code for its structure and copied the protective elements and saved it in a hidden file on her computer. The chat box window's tab was flashing orange. Anne was trying to talk to her so she brought it back up.

Shadow Caster- BRB!

Ebony- NO! WAIT!

Ebony- Nina!

Ebony- … Just… Be careful…

Shadow Caster- Okay! I got the code. The easy part is over.

Ebony- You.

Ebony- Are.

Ebony- Impossible.

Shadow Caster- I try.

Ebony- So. What did you do?

Shadow Caster- I just copied some script. That's all. Once I see what makes it tick I'll be able to get in without any one noticing I was ever there.

Ebony- I don't know how you do it.

Shadow Caster- Well, I don't know where you get your information from.

Shadow Caster- I wish I had sources like yours.

Ebony- Well I wish I had brains like yours.

Shadow Caster- You don't want my brains. Then you would fail the History exam tomorrow.

Ebony- So? I would pass every thing else with flying colors!

Shadow Caster- Except Chemistry…

Ebony- Hey! You passed Chemistry.

Shadow Caster- Barely…

Ebony- Since when is 80 "Barely" passing?

Shadow Caster- Well, I'm going to pick this thing's brain. I'll leave the chat open so if you want to talk go right ahead.

Ebony- K.

Nina minimized the chat once again and opened the text file she had saved. The protection was complicated but if she used a small piece of code, that she found many uses for, as the user ID, it would override the user database temporarily, but it would be almost undetectable. The only hard part is that every database has a different number sequence for its password. She looked all though the code and could not seem to find it. It was not in any place it should be. Finally she gave up but almost instantly got an idea. If all else fails? Ask dad.

Nina stood up and carried her laptop to the study where her dad spent most hours of the day. "Hey… uh… Dad?" she asked waiting for his attention.

"Yes, Dear?" he answered without taking his eyes from his computer screen.

"I forgot the usernames and passwords to one of my databases… so I hacked it… But apparently I protected it too well and now I can't seem to find its number…" she lied. He would believe it. "It isn't in any of the places it should be."

He turned around "Let me see it" she held it out. He took one look at it and put his finger on her screen. "There," he said, and turned around; back to his computer.

She hadn't had time to see the number, but it didn't matter. He had left a large finger print over the only number in that block of text. Not where the number should be, but she didn't question him. Her dad was one of the best hackers in the nation. What did he use his skills for? Downloading anime and their soundtracks. That's what.

When she got back to her room she opened the chat up again.

Shadow Caster- Hey Anne?

Ebony- Yeah?

Shadow Caster- I'm doing it now.

Ebony- Now?

Ebony- Why!

Shadow Caster- Because these kinds of databases are updated a lot during the work day, and I'll have to find the password myself 'cause dad wont fall for that story more than once.

Ebony- Fine.

Shadow Caster- I'm going to need your help. Click **This Link** and watch to see if an admin gets on. If one does, tell me on chat instantly. As soon as I see the tab turn orange I'll exit out, because if an admin gets on and looks at who's on, he'll se a user that shouldn't be there and I'll get caught. K?

Ebony- Okay. Be careful.

She minimized the chat window. Carefully she logged into the database and searched through it. It was well organized and she quickly found her mother's case file. She didn't risk the time it would take to look in it, but instead began to download it instantly. It seemed to take forever to download, though she knew it had only taken half a minute. She began double-checking the database, to make sure she got everything, when the chat box flashed orange. Alt + F4. The window closed. She opened up the chat box.

Ebony- Okay. Be careful.

Ebony- dhfsdfgh

Shadow Caster- I'd be dead without you.

Ebony- That was THE admin.

Shadow Caster- *Cringe*

Shadow Caster- LOLZ! Missed me by that much!

She pulled up her outlook express and emailed a copy of the folder to Anne.

Shadow Caster- Sent it to you.

Ebony- Just got it.

Ebony- I'll look this over. You get some sleep. Okay?

Shadow Caster- Okay. I don't think I could handle the file yet, As tired as I am.

Ebony- Ha Ha! I took a nap.

Shadow Caster- Lucky! Kira doesn't let me sleep during the day… speaking of Kira. Where is he?

Ebony- See you tomorrow. Good night.

Shadow Caster- Night.

Nina closed everything on her computer, logic winning over her curiosity to open the file. Then she shut it down and slid it back under her bed to charge. After she got dressed for bed and had gone to the bathroom, she sleepily looked around the house for Kira.

"Ki-ra," she called, "Where are you?" Finally she gave up and went back to her bedroom. When she stepped in, Kira called to her from the bed. Nina smiled and picked up the cat. "There you are, you silly kitty. You know, Kira, maybe I should get you a bell." She laughed. Kira would hate a bell.

Finally she closed the door and turned off the light. Kira leapt out of her arms and landed on her bed, eyes glowing. Nina laughed and settled down beside him. "Fine," she mumbled, "you can have that side of the bed tonight." Kira purred in reply.

She laughed to herself. Kira had eyes so dark that they looked black even during the day, but in the dark any bit of light would make his eyes glow red. The light from the bathroom, coming in through the cat door on her door, was enough to do that. With a black pelt and red eyes, he was enough to scare any one in the dark or light. Anyone except her. She found comfort in knowing Kira was there while she slept.

As she slept, her dreams where a blur; disturbed by the memory of her mother's masked killer standing over her dead body as he had nine years ago. She woke up suddenly at three o'clock in a cold sweat. She rolled over and found Kira still there, staring at her. The nightmare growing dim, she was comforted by his presence and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nina woke up on time in the morning, took a shower, got ready for school, made a pot of coffee for her dad, grabbed her things, said bye to Kira, and hurried out the door. She jogged down a block and sat on a bench to wait for the bus. If she went down another few blocks she could go to Anne's house. She was nervous though, and would wait to talk to her.

After a while, the bus stopped in front of her and when she got on she noticed that the bus driver's number was getting dangerously low. She had what was called shinigami eyes; the eyes of a death god. She was born with them so she could see people's names and how much time they had left. Though she had had them all her life she still couldn't figure out equation needed to convert a person's number into perceived time. After giving him an uneasy look, she went straight to the back where Anne was sitting with a big smile on her face. Nina couldn't help but smile when Anne did. "So?" Nina asked as she sat next to her. Nina pulled her laptop out of her bag and the two of them traded places, so she was by the window, as it booted. When she got settled she pulled up the folder and hesitantly opened it. "What do I need to see first?" She asked. Anne was still smiling. "That one," she replied, pointing to a file labeled 'EVIDENCE'. She double clicked it and pulled it up. Pictures. She wasn't sure she was ready for this. Especially since that dream she had last night. She opened the first image in Irfanview.

Mercifully the first photo was of the broken window. The point of entry. She could still remember the sound of that glass breaking; tiny crystal shards that glittered in the kitchen floor. She shuddered and Anne put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and pressed the spacebar reluctantly. Merciful again. Another photo of the glass. She pressed the spacebar more reluctant than ever; the glass had to run out sooner or later. Blood. Still okay. It could have been anyone's blood. Spacebar again. Instantly she regretted it, and slammed the computer shut. Anne jumped and hugged Nina's shoulders awkwardly.

"It's okay, Nina," she whispered, "you can do this."

Drawing from Anne's strength, Nina nodded determinedly, still not trusting her voice. Slowly she opened the laptop back up knowing what she would see. Her mother, lying dead in her own blood, sprawled unnaturally in the hallway. She saw a lot of those as she went on through the rest of the photos.

The rest were more crime scene photos and evidence: a footprint, clothing fibers, things like that. There was a picture of the driveway where there where tire marks on the pavement.

She looked at Anne when she had finished going though all thirty-seven. Anne was still smiling, though she had a careful look in her eye now. Nina forced herself to smile back. She couldn't see any thing good. None of it could be used now. It was too old. Anne smiled even bigger.

"Did you see them?" She asked excitedly. Nina smiled warmly. Only Anne.

"Yes, Anne, all thirty-seven of them," Nina sighed. Anne looked confused then realization lit her features.

"So you didn't," she said, smiling again, lager than before. Anne reached over and pressed the arrow keys, navigating to about halfway down the list of photos and chose one, pulling it up in Irfanview. "This one," she said matter-of-factly. It was one of the tire marks. Nothing special. "See?" She said, "and this one… and this one… and this one too…" The window. A trampled area. The house. What? What was so special?

That's when she saw him, in a picture of the house. Someone was sneaking in the background. "Go back," Nina instructed, and Anne complied, flicking back through the pictures with the suspicious person craftily sneaking around the place.

Nina copied and opened the image that he was closest to the camera in, with one of her favorite editing programs. Deftly, she zoomed in, cropped the image, and used a new feature: Rerender. It could sharpen the blurriest of images to viewable content, and since the DPI of this photo was so high, it worked wonderfully. Now it looked like she had intentionally taken a picture of the sneak.

"Recognize him?" Anne asked, surprising her and bringing her out of her concentration.

"His name…" she said looking at the blurry red letters only she could see, "is Andrew John Meeks". Now they had an acquaintance. She was glad once again that she had the powers of the second Kira, Misa.

She felt the bus stop and looked around. They were at school already. She would have all day to think. She gave the driver's number another glance and wrote it down on a scrap of paper before she forgot it. She also made note of the exact time. She never missed a chance to try as conversion. Anne saw what she was doing and raised an eyebrow.

"The driver?" she asked looking back over her shoulder, "seriously?" Nina just nodded. "After I find out what time he died, I can try another conversion," she said in a low voice, not that anyone was listening, but still…

Anne nodded "I'll see you after school then!" she yelled cheerfully over the sound of the crowd in the hall.

Nina pushed and shoved her way to her locker where she stowed her bag, laptop and all, and grabbed her books before checking the lock and rushing to class.

She didn't see Anne for the rest of the day, as was the norm, and all her classes passed without a hitch. All except for her last class, World History. She was forced to take her time on the test and when the bell rang she was the only one still working on it, though she was nearly finished.

The last question read: The man who wrote the 95 thesis's name was what? Now what was his name? Ah yes Martin Luther.

She finished her test and turned it in before sprinting down the hall to her locker. She didn't want to miss her bus. After she got her locker opened, she grabbed her bag and ran outside just in time to be the last person on the bus before the doors closed. Anne had saved her seat so she flopped down by her, completely out of breath and listened, the whole way to the bus stop, about Nathen.

After Nina had walked home from the bus stop and tossed her bag by her bedroom door, she grabbed up her sketch book from her desk and sat on her bed to draw a picture of Kira sitting on her bed. When she was finished, she decided, out of boredom, to ink it and dug around in tote by her bead for her favorite ink pen. She searched for about five minutes then she checked her pocket book. It wasn't there either. Finally she dumped out her bag, she had left by her door, on her bed and froze, completely forgetting about the ink pen.

On top of every thing she had dumped out was a black notebook with the words DEATH NOTE written in creepy handwriting on the front cover. She had seen a notebook like this only once. She had been doing research on Light, the man who could kill criminals if he knew their name and face, and the second kira, Misa, who could kill if she only saw their face. Then there was the third man that somehow got a hold of Kira's powers, but he was caught. In the captured man's possession was a notebook just like this one that if you touched it you would see a monster. She had seen it on video. Whenever any of the police touched it they would go into hysterics and babble about seeing a monster.

Nina wanted to touch it, but she didn't. She wanted to learn the secret but she was afraid. Anyone would be. She reached out but pulled her hand back. What would happen if she screamed and babbled? What if while she was in shock someone found it in her possession? The FBI would recognize it. No. She wouldn't scream. Kira could touch it and was still sane. She could do this. She was a true believer of Light. Of Kira.

She took a deep breath and picked up the Death Note. She could see the monster in her vision though she was staring at the notebook and she forced herself not to look. Not yet.

When she had collected herself, she let out her breath and looked up at him. She knew him. The real Kira. Light Yagami. She had seen pictures of him. Though as a monster he did not look quite the same. He still had human features but they were distorted, making him look like something from a horror movie.

His skin was grey with a bluish tint, like an old corpse. His face looked like someone had pulled his cheeks back so that the skin was tight on his jaw and revealed his teeth that were more like fangs than anything. His clothes looked like a mix of robes and average clothing. In some places the clothes seemed to be growing from his body and appeared to be made into his skin, like he had melted onto his odd attire. His hair was a light brown that, despite his garish appearance, looked rather soft, and the skin that was visible on his arms was covered in scar-looking ridges that were shaped like feathers or scales.

She took another breath when she remembered how.

"Kira," she said not like a question but just stating a fact. He grinned.

"Well, aren't you going to read it?" he asked in a voice that didn't exactly seem to fit his body.

Nina looked back at the Death Note, a thousand questions swimming in her head, and opened it up. 'How to Use' it read.


	3. Chapter 3

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

I am sorry for taking so long on getting this new chapter out, but I had finals  
at my college. You know how that is… Anyway~ continuing on… You may  
thank my three fans! Wow… I sit here thinking I have SO MANY fans.  
Then I go look at the number, and I have a whopping 3. Well, 4 if you count  
my little sister. I don't though. So~ yeah. I got a couple of emails yesterday saying  
that someone had added me on their alerts for my story. And I was like  
"Oh crap! When's the last time I updated my story?" So I found it in my computer  
(hiding somewhere I might add…) and discovered I already had half a page…

Sorry that this chapter was shorter than the others and isn't as exciting, but  
transitions must be made! Boring or not. This one wasn't boring though.  
AND You get to learn some about Nina and Anne's "Lingo/Code"  
I will be more frequent with my updates unless I can find a job.  
(Please let me find a job…) Because unlike my crazy fellow classmates, I am NOT  
taking summer classes. ANYWAY! My note is going on for too long now…  
YOU BETTER REVIEW!  
Thanks,  
~Gebrelle

P.S. – Thank you Shimigami King, insanepersonishappy, and Seto K4iba1, for adding  
me/my story as a favorite, adding me/my story to your alert list, or leaving a review  
(bunchies of THANKYOU's for the reviews) Yes SilverSteam, I left you off, but you're  
my little sister… I said you don't count.

*** END OF AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Chapter 2

When Nina woke up the next morning on Saturday, she wondered if she had just dreamed about yesterday. Kira was watching intently as she rolled over and blinked sleepily. She yawned and he purred.

"Good morning, Kira," she said affectionately petting his head.

"Good morning to you," a voice said from the other side of the room.

"Light?"

Slowly he stepped out of the shadows and grinned, exposing even more of his fangs. Light had a very menacing smile.

"Were you talking to me or your cat?" he asked sarcastically.

"My cat actually," she said. He grinned. Obviously she was not a morning person.

"You named a cat Kira?" he asked, "You're crazy after all" he grinned again. Nina looked back at her cat and wished Light would stop all that grinning. It was starting to give her the chills.

She reached under the pillow and pulled out the Death Note. She opened it and looked again at all the blank pages. In fact, the whole notebook was blank. She dug through the tote by her bed and found a ball point pen; she clicked it and stared at the page.

"So~ I just write a name in it and they die?" she asked even when she knew the answer. She scratched her head with her ink pen. "I don't think we should just start killing people," she said, and Light looked at her curiously. "I think we should do something with a bang. Something that says 'I'm back,' something the authorities can't hide from the public." Light just nodded.

Nina grabbed her laptop from under her bed and started running searches for criminals. She stared at all the pictures and was a bit unsettled by the thought of killing these people. Thinking of criminals as evil beings was one thing but to see their pictures, to know that even if they did bad things, even terrible things that each and every one of them was human. If she killed them, would that make her any better than them? Would that make her any better than her mother's killer?

She looked at Light. He had been able to do it. He was staring at Kira, who had touched the Death Note himself, and he was staring back at Light. Light wiggled his fingers at him but he yawned and looked away, not interested at all in his name-sake.

She slid the notebook between her mattresses telling herself that there was no reason to have it out until she had her big plan ready. She turned on the television, flipping the channels to watch the news when something caught her eye: the bus driver had a stroke last night. She grabbed her paper on top of her dresser where she always emptied her pockets, wrote down the time of death, and began trying to understand the relationship.

Light noticed her movements and watched her work equation after equation, marking out ones that didn't remain universal. She heard him chuckle and cast him a questioning look.

"What?" she asked him. He shook his head. He moved closer so he could see the numbers she was working with. Once he got so close, Kira stood up and moved between them, putting himself in front of Nina.

"What number is this?" Light asked, pointing to the driver's lifespan.

Nina looked back at the paper. "The driver's lifespan," she answered feeling foolish, surely he would think her stupid not to have figured it out by now.

Light looked shocked, "How did you find out his lifespan?" he asked carefully.

Nina looked at him surprised. Surely he had known of her eyes. "I was born with the eyes of a shinigami" she answered honestly.

"Interesting," he said thoughtfully, "very interesting." She looked at him, "We can use this, but unfortunately, I, as a shinigami, am not at liberty to give you the equation. Even if you were born with the eyes."

Nina had figured it would be something like that, considering the Deathnote mentioned in many places that a Death God could not tell you quite a few things…

Suddenly, Nina thought of something. It was Saturday, and Anne would likely be busy unless she called her. Anne's mother loved Nina and would let Anne out of work and her studies it she called her, and Anne would thank her for it. Nina sighed and dug around in the drawers by her bed for her cell phone that was charging. All Nina had to do was hold down the 5 key and it would call Anne. Nina waited patiently while listening to her ring back tone that was the opening theme to Anne's favorite show.

After a few moments Anne answered, "Moshi moshi?" Nina chucked, Anne answered her cell in a different language each time.

"I need to talk to you about something really important." Nina said carefully.

She could hear the question in Anne's voice, "Okay… Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want me to get online?"

Nina didn't want to sound too obvious. "No, there is so~ much drama about it I'd rather talk to you in person." She tried to sound like your stereotypical teenager and hoped she got the hint.

Anne was quiet for a long moment, "So I'm taking it you want to go grab some brunch?"

Nina smiled; Anne had used a code phrase. "Sure, that sounds great!" she said making it sound to anyone listening in that they were setting a lunch date. "How about the usual place?"

"Sure," Anne replied, "fifteen minutes good with you?"

Nina smiled, feeling more confident, "Yeah. I'll see you then. Drive safely." By 'drive safely', Nina meant, 'make sure no one follows you'.

Anne hung up the phone without a good bye, but that was normal for Anne. Nina hopped out of bed and dug around in her closet for some comfortable clothes and her leather jacket. Not that it was cold outside; just that she always wore it when she drove her motorcycle.

Light had carefully watched her during her phone call to Anne and was now watching her get things together. "What was that about?" he asked.

Nina laughed, remembering he was out of the loop on their lingo. "I trust Anne with more than my life." She looked at light meaningfully, "I am going to share the Deathnote with her. It's too risky to talk about the Deathnote here, her place, on the phone, or online. So we are meeting at an apartment of mine. It's just a tiny one bedroom thing, but I don't have to pay rent on it as long as I keep it up. The landlord just needs someone to stay in it sometimes. By fifteen minutes, she meant thirty minutes… we half our time when setting times to meet… it's just part of our code." Light was staring at her blankly.

"As long as you know what you're doing," was all he said.

After making Light turn around, Nina got dressed quickly, packed her backpack with her laptop and the Deathnote stuck in a folder. She also packed an ink pen, a pencil, and grabbed one of her cheap cell phones that she only had for making anonymous calls from.

She hurried out to the garage and stuffed her small backpack into one of the luggage bags on the back of her motorcycle, before grabbing her helmet off of the shelf and pulling her short hair into a ponytail at the base of her neck, just to keep it tame inside her helmet.

When she was ready to go, she opened the garage door with the button on her keys and put on her helmet that was the same color as her bike: Hot rod red. The Benelli Tornado had been a gift from Anne for her birthday. Anne always spent too much on her, but her family had money; lots of it too.

Nina cranked up the bike and slowly pulled forward until she was out of the garage, then she pressed the button again, closing the door behind her. She looked at Light and smiled, "Are you going to be able to keep up?" she asked him.

He just grinned that freaky grin of his, but as she watched, a pair of creepy wings just seemed to grow from his back, he only had to flap a couple of times before he was able to hover beside her, defying all logic of flying and hovering all in one go.

She shrugged and pulled on into the road, heading to the meeting place about fifteen miles east of her house. She was amused to notice, though, that Light kept up with her the entire way there.


	4. Chapter 4

*** Author's Note ***

So I got another fan! Welcome to the ranks of my followers, WerewolfNobody!  
I really wish people would review more often! If you do… I might do something  
special… I don't know what yet though… If everyone who reads this chapter leaves  
a comment then I will… I don't know. Message me your idea! Yeah! That way I  
know you will like it. I thought about posting an excerpt… but it had some BIG  
spoilers for the rest of the story… And I don't want to spoil it… Anyway~ You guys  
want to know what gives me the inspiration to write? That's right! YOU! Every time  
I check my email and someone has added "Kira Again" to their alert list, or reviewed  
it, I feel so light and bouncy! And I sit down right then and write another chapter!  
Think of me what you will, it is you that is the driving force behind me! I love my fans!  
Okay… I have gone on rather loudly for a bit too long,  
Thanks Bunchies,  
Gebrelle

*** End Note *** 

When Nina pulled into the grunge apartment place, she couldn't help but laugh to herself, remembering the first time Anne ever saw this place. Anne, who was always such a little princess, actually cringed when she first saw the apartment complex. It was not a large one, and its design was like nothing she had ever seen anywhere else, except for hotels. It was just a large square building, but when you passed through the hall like entrance, there was a large courtyard in the center that was complete with a pool. Once inside the hall, the apartments were like a whole other world. If it rained you never got wet on your way to your door. It was a nice design… As far as that goes…

The apartments had been long past their prime in life and were on a steady decline. She had learned from the landlord, that the person who built the apartments had been from Mexico and the idea of it was to make them look like his home. The place had arches everywhere and the block walls had a type of plaster overlay that added texture and a sense that that's what the structure was made of. Looking at it made you feel like you were in some third world country. Especially since the whole place had a layer of grime and rust.

Nina sighed and pulled her motorcycle through one of the wide hall like entrances and cut the engine by her door, set the kick stand, and began fishing out the apartment key that she didn't keep on her normal set. She wasn't supposed to park her bike there, but no one really cared about it. It was off in a corner and the children liked looking at it. She would never trust her baby out in the parking lot with the rest of the $500 cars… Nina grabbed her backpack and unlocked her door. She had barely got her helmet off and settled on the bean bag chair when her pocket buzzed. She knew what it would be even before she pulled her phone out.  
It was a text message from a number she never saved on her phone for safety reasons. It said "Opened with key. 10:56:37 am". She and Anne had installed a sensor in the door that would text Nina whenever the door was opened. Whether it was forced, unlocked, or if the lock was picked, it would send her the details.

Nina stood up and went to the fridge, selecting a cherry Pepsi for herself and a Sunkist for Anne, and plopped back onto the oversized purple beanbag. After setting both drinks down on the coffee table, Nina dug in her bag and pulled out the folder that was concealing the DeathNote and laid it in her lap to wait for Anne.

Light was busy looking around and she couldn't help laugh at him. He had to have been expecting a terrible living environment. What with the way the outside of the place had looked. It had looked bad on the inside when she first got a hold of it. But after quite a bit of work, the place had cleaned up nicely.

She had been watching him poke around the place for a few minutes and was startled when she heard Anne rap out the secret knock. One knock, a pause, then two more knocks. It kind of made her feel like a child with their club house. One with a "No boys allowed" sign written in crayon on a scrap of paper taped to the door.

Nina leaned over and flipped the lock on the door knob. Anne came in and tossed a Subway bag in her lap. The door closed behind her and Nina heard the lock click, like it always did. Her phone buzzed, but she didn't bother looking at it.

She raised an eyebrow at Anne. "What?" she asked pitifully, "I meant it when I said brunch. I'm hungry…"

Nina laughed at her, "I thought you were using a key phrase."

Anne pretended to look hurt, "I was, you meanie! I meant it though." She pointed at Nina's sandwich that she hadn't even taken out of the bag yet. "Chicken breast, white American cheese, toasted, and no grass…" she started to laugh when she said grass and Nina couldn't help but smile. She had accidently called lettuce "grass" one time and Anne had not let her live it down yet. She looked down at the sandwich. It was almost creepy how well Anne knew her. Nina knew Anne too well too. Which brought her back to the reason she had called Anne over here…

Anne had finally gotten quiet and Nina used it as her chance to start the conversation. "Listen," she said, thinking about how she was going to phrase what she wanted to say, "Remember last summer? When we did that research on the Kira case?" Anne grinned a mischievous smile. Light had taken his now usual spot behind Nina's left shoulder, and she was about to continue when Anne broke in.

"Yeah, I remember. You almost got us in big trouble because you were sloppy hacking into the mainframe." Nina did a mental face palm but listened as she continued. "But you had just enough proxies to scramble our location."

"Thanks for reminding me… Anyway… As I was trying to say: Remember that one video that was taken from a helicopter of the arrest of Higuchi? The guy from the Yotsuba group that had somehow gotten a hold of Kira's powers?" Anne nodded after each question. "Well… I don't know how to keep going… Remember when they arrested him and he had that notebook that he said he used to kill people? I um…" she trailed off not knowing how to say that she had a DeathNote. She looked at Anne seriously. "I'm going to shut up now and let this thing speak for itself." She pulled the DeathNote out of the folder it was hiding in and held it just out of Anne's reach.

"I'll warn you though, before you touch it," she said, looking Anne in the eye, who was trying to tell if Nina was being serious or if she was playing a trick, "you really do see a Death God." With that said, she held it out to her and Anne took it from her, her head jerking instantly to look at Light.

"Well," Anne said in a voice that only had the slightest shake in it, "nice to meet you Kira." Light laughed and Nina saw her cringe a little at his grin. She probably thought it was just as bad a Nina did.


	5. Chapter 5

*** Author's Note ***

I wasn't expecting the turn out that chapter 4 brought about. Someone said the chapter  
was short. Sorry about that. I don't really even remember posting it. I started writing it at  
about midnight and got it posted sometime around 7 am. I checked my email at around 3  
in the afternoon and had a, "New chapter posted" thing, a new fan, and a couple of  
reviews… So~ yeah. I read my chapter and was like, "Hey. I write pretty good in my  
sleep…" Just a side note, Nina does in fact have a Myspace, and the url is  
myspace (dot) com (forward slash) 532289513  
If you want to be her friend, go right ahead! Oh yeah! I have to warn you.  
I am going to an anime convention this weekend, so I won't be posting any this weekend.  
Man! I SOOOOOOO wish some of you readers lived closer to me! Then I could meet  
you all in person! Oh yeah… That reminds me… SilverSteam is making me  
cosplay as L and she is Light. We have the handcuffs and everything! This will be fun.  
Anyway! You know, I think I will have a competition. The winner can be added as a character  
in my story! How does that sound? I just need to think of what the competition  
should be… I'll be thinking about it over the weekend! Hey! At the bottom of your  
review, add who your favorite character is so far! Oh speaking of review!  
THANKYOU TO EVERYONE WHO BOTHERS TO REVIEW!  
And I also must say thank you to my newest fan- sabata414  
THANK YOU!  
~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

Anne stared at Light for a moment longer before she seemed to lose interest. "Oh yeah! Look what I brought!" Nina looked at the magazine that she was waving in her face.  
"What is this?" She asked taking it from her. Anne grinned mischievously.  
"Flip to page 15," she instructed. Nina did as she was told and was surprised to see one of her drawings of her favorite alley way. "Maria won that one too eh?" Nina just shook her head. Anne was always entering her artwork to competitions. She always won them, but it was kind of embarrassing, even if they were entered under a pseudonym, or fake name. It was always Maria.

Anne had chosen that name, because, as children, she could only remember Nina's name because of Christopher Columbus's ship's names: The Nina, The Pinta, and the Santa Maria. It had seemed silly at the time, and Nina still thought it was a funny Pen Name, but hey, Maria was already quite famous among the young artists. It made her feel better that Anne always shipped the entries from a different county than their own. She was always so proud; you would think Anne had drawn the pictures herself.

"I think I forgot to mention the prize." Nina raised an eyebrow at her, "You get an all expense paid, round trip to Japan!"

Nina's eye twitched, "And if I don't want to go?"

Anne gasped, "Why the hell wouldn't you? It's in July. No school…"

She dropped her head, "Do you know how much work it takes to get a passport?"

Anne smiled, "Already taken care of. And since it was Maria that won, your passport," she said as she tossed a passport into Nina's lap, making the subway bag rattle loudly, "Is under the name of Maria Abigail Wright. You don't have to be Nina Mea Laverock for a couple of weeks. Just think about it. Two weeks, in Japan, nothing to tie you to yourself, except your art."

Nina opened the passport and saw what Anne said was true. It was an official Passport, down to the T. It was nice. She had never seen a real passport before, much less ever had one. Though, she didn't think this one counted as having one either…

"Untraceable?" Nina asked without looking up, though she knew the answer. Anne never got anything half done.

"Uh-huh," she said happily, "and you'll need these." Anne threw a few other things at her. "Here is Maria's driver's license, complete with the motorcycle part, birth certificate, social security card, shot record, and insurance card." Nina looked all of them over. They all said Maria, but they had her face on them.

"Where did you get the rest of the name?" Nina asked, not looking up from the documents.

Anne shrugged, "I made it up on the go. Like it?"

"Abigail?" she looked at her, "Seriously?"

Anne laughed at her look, "Is it the meaning that's bothering you? It's your middle name. Get over it. I think Maria's name may be better than yours," she laughed again.

Nina stared at her blankly, "I like my name. So what if Nina means girl?"

"And Mae means bitter?" Anne laughed some more.

"Maria means bitter sea. I am okay with those. But Abigail? Really…" Nina shook her head. God is joy… "I just think you've lost it is all."

Anne finally stopped laughing, "No one cares about name meanings anymore," She looked at Nina, "They really only care about the name."

"Well, when you know everyone's name, whether you want to or not, names lose their pa-zazz…" Nina sighed, "meanings are the only thing you can look for in a name. Isn't it a shame that most people don't know the meaning of theirs?"

Anne laughed softly, "I guess I'll never understand the way you feel."

"She could you know," when Light spoke Nina and Anne both jumped. She still wasn't used to him yet.

Nina broke in before Light could continue, "No. Absolutely not! There is no way in hell I am letting her give up half of her life span."

Light grinned a wide grin, "I see you read all of it. Very well, I'll not bring it up again."

Anne looked slightly shocked by Nina's outburst. She rarely let her temper show, even when her anger seethed.

Nina set down the passport and massaged her temple, fighting the headache that was forming there. She sighed, and, without another word, unwrapped the now cold sub. Anne followed suit and they ate in silence for a while. Finally Anne stood up and skipped to the kitchen, returning in a moment with a couple small bags of chips. She tossed some plain Lays to Nina who caught them with one hand without looking up.

"Nice reflexes," Anne commented, "and speaking of, are you ready to take on stage three of fencing classes?"

Nina gave her a stern look, "I _know_ we have discussed this before. I have to keep up my grades. And now we have this…" when she said 'this' she motioned to the DeathNote lying on the coffee table between them. "And speaking of 'this', I decided that it we should start judging criminals with a bang. Something the authorities can't cover up."

Anne nodded. "How about killing all of America's most wanted?" She looked thoughtful, "What do you think, Light?" Light jumped when she said his name. He obviously hadn't been listening; instead, he had been peering down into Nina's bag of chips.

She let out a big sigh, "Would you some chips, Light?" Nina asked sarcastically.

"Actually I would. Thank you…" with that, Light turned up the bag like there were only crumbs in it and poured them all into his mouth. Nina and Anne just stared at him, neither knew what to say. Light set the bag back down by Nina, "Right, I think America's most wanted is too small of a scale. Kira could be anyone anywhere in the world. We want them to think this for as long as possible."

Nina blinked a couple of times and shook her head; he sure put those chips away. "I agree, we should get the nation's most wanted from all of the world."

"What?" Anne yelled, "Do you know exactly how many countries there are in the world?"

Nina smiled, "Not exactly. Humor me."

"There are 192 members in the United Nations, two more, Vatican City and Kosovo, that are not members. That's 194. And if you count Taiwan, that's 195 in all… That's what I read somewhere. But it really is more like 257…" Anne noticed Nina's smile and huffed, "I think you've lost it."

She kept smiling, "I've not lost it. I have just got it. We will kill the top 10 of all the countries that have a most wanted list. That should lower the number some…"

Anne shook her head and Nina pulled her computer into her lap. "Well, I guess we will be starting our research with Afghanistan. We might as well do it alphabetically." She tossed a pen down on top of the DeathNote, "We'll set their time of death to be midnight tonight. Do you think we can have this done by then?"

Anne laughed this time as she pulled out her laptop, "Definitely. I have all day."

*** Foot Note ***

I just finished this chapter at 3:30 am. This is going to be the last chapter until  
next week. Unless you beg. LOL! You might get one more… Probably not though…  
Have a nice week end all!

Oh yeah! And did anyone else notice that chapter 3 was labeled "Chapter 2"? LOL  
that should say something about my brain eh? Heh heh heh…

*** End Note ***


	6. Chapter 6

*** Author's Note ***

Back from JAMPCON! And I had a blast. Made lots of new friends too 3  
Sorry I haven't posted anything yet! My roommates are slave drivers. So I have been  
washing dishes and all around cleaning since I got back. Not that I mind… I normally  
get it pretty easy over here. Just that I haven't had much time to write, but here I sit:  
writing! I noticed I got more fans by the way! YAY! Though… It was only when I  
manually started looking at the list of alerts and such that I noticed how many more I  
got this time… Apparently Fanfiction didn't think I needed to know how many I got this  
time around… So continuing on my list of Thank Yous… Aeleita, Kawaiichan13,  
Mrs. L Lawliet 162, and Velocityshade! THANK YOU! It was Kawaiichan and  
Velocityshade that it didn't tell me about btw… *Shrugs* Right…  
I'll tell you, I sat down to write this a long time ago. But~ One of my best friends  
kept texting me about this guy at her work that she thinks is hot. LOL. And I keep  
laughing and laughing. I can't breathe much less type. She has such a dirty mind!  
She was telling me every little thing, like him licking his lips while eating a waffle.  
She's my crazy friend. And I love her In fact, Anne is loosely based on a mixture  
of my three best friends… Anyway, I have ranted too long.  
Oh yeah, Azula Volturi Malfoy joined the ranks after I had the top part typed up…  
LEAVE LOTS OF REVIEWS! I have 10 fans not counting SilverSteam (Nope still don't count)  
I love my readers btw!  
~Gebrelle

Chapter 6

Nina flopped onto the floor, sprawling comfortably, and stretched. It had taken them just about 12 hours to compile the list of names and to get everything written out; double checking the criminals in many of the nations to make sure they were not just a person with views that opposed the country's religion, or political views.

Anne looked up at her after counting the names with a satisfied look on her face. "Well, that makes 1126 names."

Nina took the pages and looked them over. All of the criminals were set to die at midnight in just a couple of hours. They had worked nonstop, only taking a few breaks to call their parents, or, in Nina's case email, to say they were staying at the other's house. Something they had always done. And once to order pizza before the place down the road closed.

She looked over at Anne, who looked as tired as Nina felt. They had been working diligently, and she was glad she had Anne. If she had to do this by herself, she wasn't sure she could. Not the research part… The killing part. Nina could do it if Anne could. And Anne would do it if Nina would. So she acted confidently, knowing that Anne would know she would, and would herself. It was a bit of a paradox, but it was her way of tricking herself into doing things she didn't want to do.

She sighed, "We should probably go to sleep…" Anne looked at her and smiled.

"I won't be able to sleep," she stated.

Nina shook her head, "Me either," she laughed, "It was worth a shot saying though."

Anne and Nina both laughed easily. The deaths would be all over the news, and it would only take a couple of hours of watching the reported death number rise to know that it was obviously Kira. "I'll grab us a soda then."

Nina got up and went to the kitchen, Light on her heels. She grabbed a couple more sodas. And opened the cabinets, where the chips were kept, wide. "Get whichever you want…" she sighed. Light chuckled and grabbed some more plain Lays before following her back into the living room.

Nina tossed Anne her drink and flopped back down onto her beanbag. "I don't think we've worked that hard on anything like that in a long time," she said smiling.

"Yeah," Anne said smiling. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to a channel that was ALWAYS news.

The only thing going on right now was a flood in a residential part of town, a story on a pet store where a two headed snake was born, something about a restaurant that failed a health inspection terribly, and a man who had risked his life to save a friend's puppy from a burning house. He was being labeled brave. Nina would label him as stupid. But she had always been a cat person. Not that she would risk her life for a cat…

Nina grabbed her soda and the DeathNote, "Let's go watch a movie in the bedroom."

Anne reached into her bag, "I brought Titanic!" she squealed. Nina actually slapped her forehead.

"We _always_ watch Titanic…"

"So?" She asked, "Leonardo Dicaprio is the hottest piece of man meat a movie could ask for."

"I guess he just isn't my type…"

Anne laughed loudly, "Who are you kidding? You totally don't have a type!"

Nina raised an eyebrow at her, "Sure I do…"

Anne was still laughing some, "You like Tony Stark from IronMan."

It was more of a statement than a question, but Nina still nodded, "Yeah, and?"

"So you also liked Legolas from Lord of the rings." She looked up at Nina, "there is nothing in common there. Not really, not when you factor in what few others there are."

Nina laughed, "I guess you're right. I have high ideals. Not that I have any room to be picky."

"Oh no! We are not going over this again." That always shut Anne up. Together they flopped down on the full sized bed and Anne wormed over to reach the TV and DVD player. Nina laughed at her. Being around her was so easy. She didn't care if Anne could see right through her. In fact she liked it that way. If she had had a sister, she would want her to be exactly like Anne; someone she could trust her back to… Her _life_ to…

The movie started and she settled in beside Anne. How did Anne always get her way? She smiled despite herself, because she let her.

Sometime during the movie, her phone buzzed. Curiously, she pulled out her cell, "Forced Open. 11:17:48 pm." Anne had fallen asleep and Nina moved quietly. She cracked the bedroom door and peaked out. All she could see was shadows moving in the living room, and hushed men's voices.

Slowly, she closed the bedroom door back and locked it, pushing a chair up under the door knob for extra strength. She backed away from the door towards Anne to wake her up when the door was suddenly busted in. The men were all wearing masks. She ran to Anne who woke when the door was broken into. Three men came in; each with guns aimed at the two of them. The one that was apparently the leader cast a glance at the two behind him.

"Fire."

Nina moved between Anne and the shooters, taking a bullet in her left shoulder, one in her abdomen, one in her right thigh, and one grazed her right arm. Anne screamed behind her, and other bullets peppered the wall around them. The room spun and Nina collapsed, helpless to save either of them…

Nina sat up so fast she nearly hit her head on Anne's, who had been leaning over her, obviously trying in vain to wake her up. Nina pulled her knees up to her chest and held her head in her hands. Her heart was beating ninety miles an hour and she was covered in sweat.

After a minute of silence, she spoke, "Are you okay now?" Anne asked, sounding worried. She always made Anne worry.

She took a shaky breath, "Yeah… Yeah… I'm good now." Nina uncurled herself and tried to compose herself a little so Anne wouldn't be so worried.

She looked at her seriously, "Why didn't you tell me you still had nightmares?" All Nina could do was shake her head. Anne shook hers too. "Are you going to have to start taking your medicine again?

Nina flinched, "No… No… I… I can't think when I take those… they make my brain foggy…"

Anne sighed, "If they get worse- "

"I know," she broke in, "Can we talk about something else?" she asked, subconsciously rubbing the places she was shot.

Anne gave her another worried look, "Sure thing," the movie had gone off while she had slept and Anne flipped the channel to the news. It was almost 2 in the morning. There was the chance of news going around. They sat there watching reruns of what they had seen earlier for a while before Anne finally spoke, "What did you dream?"

Nina cringed a bit, "Just that some guys broke in here and shot us…" she tried to hide how scared she had been. Anne saw right through her though and pulled Nina to her, petting her head and murmuring that it would be okay. Something a mother would do. They stayed like that for a long time before Nina drifted off to sleep, and if she dreamed, she didn't remember when she woke up.


	7. Chapter 7

*** Author's Note ***

Oh My God, I am so sorry.  
I know I've mentioned my roommates before, right? Well, we had a falling out  
and so I decided to move out. I've been really busy trying to settle in to this new  
place. I've never lived completely on my own before. It's different. But I like it.  
Just one problem. I don't have internet… So~ Yeah… But I have been cracking  
down on the plot of this stupid thing. And I SWEAR that I won't make you all  
wait that long on a new chapter ever again. I've been busting my ass looking for  
a job. But well… Nothing. I'm actually depressed right now. The real deal. Not  
just feeling down. So I decided I needed a pick-me-up. Reviews always make me  
feel better. Even if they are not-so-good ones. Ha. I have had half of this chapter  
written for… IDK how long, since June at least…  
OH! I just had the greatest Idea! Getting past 5 chapters makes me happy. So, in  
the spirit of Nina, I shall test your computer skillz! I know I mentioned a competition  
earlier, so how about this:  
"The first one to PM me my (Gebrelle's) REAL first name gets to be a walk in character  
in chapter 10 of Kira Again! I don't hide my name like crazy, but it probably isn't that  
easy to find, since I go by an alias most of the time. So, No. My name is not Kitty.  
Though, that's probably what you will find most often. My Email is set to public if you  
think it will help you. And it may. Have fun, and good luck!

~Gebrelle"

*** End Note ***

Chapter 7

Nina probably could have slept all day, had the TV not been on. At first it was just noise that she heard, but as she listened she realized it was the news that had been left on. She sat up and had to stifle her laughter. Anne was asleep to her right, sprawled out, taking up as much space as she could. Her left leg even crossed over Nina's. She rearranged the pillows behind her so she could sit up and watch TV.

What had woken her was an Anti-Kira protest that had turned into a riot. The news was doing a story on it… She thought about it. If she killed the main leader, that would solve one of her problems. PLUS, making an example of him would discourage such behaviors…

She decided against it and flipped the channel to national news. Kira was all everyone was talking about. Even political leaders were talking about it… She smiled. There was not a doubt in anyone's mind that it was Kira. The world was divided into three or four groups. The blatant "Anti-Kira", the "Pro-Kira", the people who liked criminals being judged, just not the way of going about it, and the perfectly neutral people who didn't care as long as it wasn't them being judged.

Many channels were interviewing FBI people who were strongly against it. Many others were interviewing common people who were glad that justice was actually being served. Some politicians were using this as a time to get more people by choosing a side. Though she liked being supported, those people got under her skin. Using whatever just to get what they want. She almost hoped one would slip up so she could judge them…

Anne murmured something about cookies and curled up, sighing happily in her sleep. It made Nina wonder when the last time she had had a good dream was. A couple years back she had started having nightmares. Night terrors to be more exact. She just hated calling them that. Before they had started affecting her, she had wondered how people could be afraid of falling asleep. She had always been able to tell when she was dreaming. Until she started having them, of course. Most of the time, her nightmares were so real that sometimes she would have trouble with the date, as it felt like she had gone a day sometimes more in a single dream.

Another problem is that most of her dreams were plausible. She never started a dream in an unknown place, or with strange people. They normally started right where she had gone to sleep. One of the biggest problems with the terrors though was she couldn't wake up until the dream was over. People had tried many times. Anne mostly, and her father included. The only thing doctors could do for her was give her medicine, a sedative, before she went to bed.

The medicine made her thoughts blurry and her brain run slow. She just wasn't her normal geeky self on the meds so she tried not to take them. The less nightmares she had, the weaker the ones she did have were. Sometimes she could go months without a single nightmare. She had been on the meds while working with Anne trying to find info on the Kira case last year. That's the reason she had botched the hacking. Nina wasn't the greatest hacker, and she knew it. In fact, most of her hacking was using different tools that she found on the internet. Like the code for the username. It was something her dad had made that she had nabbed off of his computer; now there was a good hacker. Not that she wasn't smart, she still had to know how to use the things, she just still had a lot to learn, but she was trying her hardest.

Anne stirred beside her and she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Ha," she said sleepily, "I forgot I was sleeping here." Nina laughed but continued to watch the TV, knowing that Anne was staring at it now too.

The bottom of the screen had a counter that went up every once in a while as they were investigating the deaths of the victims deciding whether they were by Kira's hand. The current running total was 1052. They were still missing 74 people but they'd find them soon enough.

Nina slid out of the bed while Anne was watching the news and grabbed her bag from the living room, pulling out the scrap paper with the life span equation and headed back to the room with Anne. She smoothed it on the back of the DeathNote and started back to work on it, Anne watching with interest.

"Why's that 9 sideways?" Anne asked, poking her finger in Nina's scribbles.

"Look. If I knew, I wouldn't be having to work it out." Anne laughed off Nina's words.

"Sure, sure," She went back to flipping through the channels when Nina's phone buzzed, she jumped, remembering the last time she remembered it buzzing… She rubbed her head as she picked it up to see who it was. Her dad was calling her so she answered it. "Yes, daddy?" Nina asked when she picked it up.

"We need to talk."

"About what?" Nina asked curiously.

"I don't want to talk about it over the phone." He said flatly.

Nina shrugged, "Okay, well I was about to head home anyway, I'll see you in a little while. I still have to eat breakfast and all…"

"I'll see you when you get here then, love you."

"Love you too, daddy, bye.

"Bye."

When Nina got off the phone, Anne was looking at her curiously. "Don't ask me. I truly have no clue what that was about. But I think we should head back. I'll give you a ride, your helmet is still in one of the bags on my bike." Anne nodded enthusiastically and began collecting her belongings and Nina followed suit.

When they were ready, Nina tied her hair back and put on her helmet as she opened the door. When she got outside, she had to stifle her laughter. The children knew better than to touch her bike, so instead, they used chalk and colored the ground around it. Drawing pictures of it and making comments like 'pretty' and 'cool' all around it. She smiled to herself and got on the bike and scooted forward a bit for Anne to ride too.

When they were both on, Nina revved the engine loudly and the children peeked out of their hiding places to ogle at her motorcycle. She chuckled to herself, and headed towards Anne's house. A silent Light following them. Maybe she could get used to him after all.


	8. Chapter 8

*** Author's Note ***

See? I wasn't lying when I said you wouldn't have to wait long for the next chapter.  
I'm sick right now so every time I lay down to sleep, my nose gets so stopped up I can't  
even breathe out of it. So here I sit, putting off sleep, and stopped up nose, by writing  
on Kira Again. It's currently 4:12 in the morning as I write this and my stomach just  
started growling. Fun huh? Lol. On the lighter side of things, I got two new fans last chapter,  
So~ Welcome aboard, sazyboo and Helga G. Pataki  
Also, only one person has even _tried_ to guess my name. It's not hard to find, people.  
It's just not easy. And it's not Gebrelle. Nor am I a song artist. That should narrow it  
down. I mean it. Oops! I just nearly nodded off while watching the fish… lol.  
Remember all, You only have till next chapter to guess, because chapter ten is when  
the contest ends!

Good Luck,  
~Gebrelle

P.S.- My space bar is messed up, so if I missed a place and two words are mashed  
together, blame the space bar. I have had to adapt my whole typing style because of it.

*** End Note ***

When Nina got home after dropping Anne off at her house, she wasn't sure what to expect. So the first thing she did when she got in was go to her room. Sure enough her dad had been in there. He never tried to hide that he had searched her room. There were ashes and cigarette butts all over her bedroom floor. The rest of the room however was just the way she had left it. He never tried to rearrange her things because he knew that if her things were sorted that she would never be able to find anything.

Light looked the room over, "I take it your father doesn't trust you?"

Nina laughed and shook her head, "You have it all wrong. He stays shut in his study all day, but I take care of him, making sure he has coffee, that he eats, and that he has clean laundry. So he feels that he needs to watch over me in some way. Going through my room is his way of checking on my grades, looking in on my interests, and the quality of my clothes to see if I need new ones or new shoes, and such. It's his way of showing his love. It's annoying, but I bear with it."

Light just grinned his freaky grin and shook his head. Nina suppressed a shiver and sat on her bed to dig around in the tote by her bed for the folder that she kept the other life spans in, and copied the old numbers and times onto a new sheet of paper along with the bus driver's. All she could do was stare at them; she had eight people's numbers now. She glanced at the mirror to check up on hers when she panicked. All she could see was 'Nina Laverock'-backwards mind you- floating above her head. No lifespan.

"Light?" she asked freaked out. He looked at her curious to find out what had her stressed. "Where is my lifespan?" she asked trying to keep calm.

Light chuckled, "Owners of a DeathNote do not have a visible lifespan." He explained coolly.

She looked back at her reflection. It looked strange now, like your reflection wouldn't show your nose in the mirror even though you knew it was there. She had always thought of a lifespan as a part of one's body. Everyone had one. But now she didn't, Light didn't either, but he was a death god; he didn't need one. It was strange but she knew she was the only one who could see it.

Nina shook her head and stared back down at the paper covered in numbers in her hand, she sighed and folded it up, sticking it in her pocket, before going to the hall closet to grab the broom to clean up her floor.

She had just opened the noisy closet door when her dad wheeled his desk chair around the door to stick his head into the hallway. He grinned and motioned for her to come into his study and she closed the closet door with a sigh, when she looked back up at him, he winked at her and disappeared.

When she stepped in, she saw that he was keeping up with the news. Many of his monitors were streaming different stations. Nina noticed that the running total was only lacking 53 now. She stared at the screens as if bewildered. Her dad knew that she and Anne never watched the news whenever they slept over at each other's houses.

"When did this start?" she asked trying to sound appropriately awed.

Her dad glanced over at her, "The killings started at midnight. I'll tell you. It's very interesting to watch," he said, returning his eyes to the screens.

She just nodded, afraid of giving herself away. Her dad would see right through her if she made even one slip.

She sat with him listening to him talk about the case, comparing it to the last one and such for about 20 minutes before he suddenly reached out and pulled the folded paper from her pocket.

"What's this?" he asked enthusiastically, and she was glad that she hadn't written down the owner's names on that page.

"It's a code. The numbers stand for real time, but I can't seem to figure it out." She wasn't lying. Just leaving out that they were dead people's ex-lifespans.

Her dad tilted his head, as if it would give him a better grasp of the numbers, and inevitably, she wound up tilting her head to look at them too. He must have been trying to figure in the sideways numbers. What bothered her most was that he never made a move for a pencil, pen, or calculator; he just had to look at it, and, if she was honest with herself, he could probably look away and continue his figurings.

He took a deep breath and she looked at him, "Aaahhhh~" he said, drawing it out, and he turned and grabbed a pen from his desk, scribbling on her paper as he explained, "If you look at each number, not as a place, but as its own multiple, then you move this way. Figuring that sideways numbers and upside down numbers have different values, we can say that this means this. So when it is all figured out, your remaining number is seconds. By converting those into minutes and those to hours, we get our exact time. This last one here… It says 10:47 pm. When it was in fact… exactly 10:47 and 36 seconds…"

Nina took the paper from him and stared at it. It hurt her pride when he was able to pull off something like this…  
She looked down at him where she had been hovering over his shoulder and smiled, "I hate you sometimes," he knew she was kidding. Definitely jealous, but definitely kidding.

"I love you too," he said, winking at her again and turning back to his main computer which displayed four desktops at once on one monitor. She laughed and turned to go.

When she got to the door, her dad called out to her, "Oh yeah, one more thing…" she looked curiously at him, "I know you've always been interested in the Kira case and all, I mean, hell, you named your cat after him… Just that… I decided something. All of the killings happened at the same time on the hour. If Kira were trying to make a point, he wouldn't have had to kill ones from all over; obviously, he was trying to make it seem as if he could be anywhere. But, assuming Kira wanted to make a big boom, he would choose a special time, either noon or midnight, with the knowledge that he was killing many people, he would be most likely to choose midnight." Nina was sure she went pale as he continued, "Only one time-zone is midnight at any given time. It was Eastern Time. That's our time-zone, not a very big one I'll add. So I just wanted you to be extra careful if you decide to look into this case, because I know I can't stop you. If you meet someone who maybe knows too much or acts guardedly about the subject, be careful that they might be Kira."

All Nina could do was nod, "Okay, Dad, I will," she called as she left the study, her father watching as she left.

She hadn't thought about the time-zone. If she had, she would have made them die at a random time to throw off the investigation. She hit herself in the head with her palm, if Near was as smart as she had heard he was, then he already knew which time-zone she lived in. She would have to watch her back far sooner than she was expecting to have to.


	9. Chapter 9

*** Author's Note ***

Okay, so I don't know if I write better at night or if I have to wait until the rest of the  
house is asleep before I can write. I think it's both, there is always so much going on  
during the day… Too many distractions I guess. Like just today we were talking about  
hosting a convention in our area and making the initial plans and such. It's crazy. Also,  
one of my new cats is like Kira. He is solid black and doesn't have a white hair on him  
not even that little white spot that most have on their chests. His eyes are green with a red  
outline. And he keeps the end of his tail bent like a shepherd's hook. It's the cutest thing.  
I rescued him. Someone had abandoned him so I took him in. I don't know though why  
anyone would ever want to get rid of him, he is incredibly friendly. Only difference  
between Thomas and Kira, is Thomas has a little blue collar that he actually likes where  
as Kira would probably plot someone's assassination if they put one on him.

On to news! We have a winner of our competition! Let's have a round of Congrazzles for  
Mrs. L Lawliet 162 Yay! She will be a walk in character in the next chapter!

Also, I got a new fan! Welcome to the ranks, Alanis Cross.

Let's keep this up!  
~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

About 1week earlier…

Near was sitting in the floor of his room, with his back to the open door, when someone came in. He continued building his castle, complete with furnished rooms, out of legos. If they had something to say, they would speak. He wasn't required to say a word.

It was a long moment before they said anything, "Well?" asked a mischievous voice that he recognized, "Aren't you going to at least look at me?"

Near paused his construction, "What do you want, Scott?"

"Ah! You do speak! But still won't look at me…" The young man walked around him to look down at Near's castle-in-progress.

"Don't need to. Just tell me what you came to tell me and let me finish this."

"So you can start something else? Not hardly." He said with a laugh, then he paused, nudging Near with his foot, "Still not going to look at me?"

Near didn't act like he was listening and continued building with his legos. He couldn't remember when the last time he had carried on a 'normal' conversation had been. Most that wanted to talk to him only wanted to prove that they were smarter than him. Though there were few, if any, that were on the same level as himself. S was probably one of the only exceptions. Maybe that's why he didn't really care too much for his company. Not that he liked company anyway.

"What if I told you Roger sent me?" Scott asked, an obvious smile in his voice. Near paused his building again and listened. "Well?" he prompted; obviously he wasn't going to accept silence.

"Just tell me what he said…" he was getting tired of playing this.

"Well," he said, dragging out the word, "Roger was worried that you have become too anti-social –which you have by the way-, so he's sending you to school, to remind you how to interact with people," he said as if it were nothing big.

"Seriously?" he asked looking up at him for the first time that day. Scott was wearing loose clothes like many here did. Though, whereas most preferred the same style of dress, his clothes were a step darker. Black jeans, not blue. Grey shirt, not white. He had dark red hair and ice blue eyes. Those unnerving eyes, that currently held a look that Near didn't recognize, were trained on him.

"Yes," he said, absently balancing his clipboard on Near's head, "I'll be going with you to make sure you go of course." Grinning he let go of the clipboard, where it rocked but stayed on its makeshift table. "We'll get an apartment together, and you should take it up with him if you're not happy… it wasn't my idea."

Near knew Roger too well to put the blame off on Scott. Plus, they barely knew each other. He wasn't the kind to jump into something as open as this was. He reached up and took Scott's clipboard off his head and looked at it, twisting a piece of hair around his finger. It was a notice from Roger detailing where they would live and go to school. They were to be ready in a week.

"You know," S said, kneeling on the ground to be closer to N's ear, "Roger won't say it, but there's another one of us at the same school. I wonder what he's planning…"

With that, S smiled and left Near with a piece of information for his brain to chew on…

* * *

Nina stepped into her room with the broom in hand, and went straight to cleaning up the ashes and butts. Light was being very quiet, he must not have thought about the time zone either. At least she didn't feel _too_ stupid…

After just a few seconds of sweeping, the floor was clean, with a neat little pile of ashes in the door way. She smiled to herself and stepped to the desk for a piece of paper to use as a makeshift dust pan. She had just opened one of the drawers on her desk when there was a loud clatter and Nina turned around in time to see Kira jump at the noise he had caused by knocking down the broom, scattering the ashes in the process.

Nina smiled and held her arms out to him, where he promptly jumped onto her and started his purr engine. She didn't really care that he had made a mess when he purred in her arms. It was like a spell or something. She laughed at that last thought and set him on the bed, scratching under his chin, and picked up the broom, cleaning up the small mess he had made.

When the dust pile was manageable again, she swept it onto the paper and tossed the whole thing in her tiny trash can. Nina turned around when she heard another odd noise. Kira was on her desk, playing with something, and by the time she reached him, he had almost knocked the item of question into the floor.

She stepped behind him and placed both hands on either sides of him wiggling her fingers to get his attention. When she moved her right hand to avoid his pounce, she noticed a large circle on her calendar. She slapped herself in the face, and, leaving a very confused Kira on her desk, went to her closet and pulled on a clean shirt before grabbing her bag with the DeathNote (that she could never leave home for her dad to search) and headed out to the garage in a rush.

Today was the first day of work volunteering to clean up the fire hall on weekends for volunteer credit hours. She had to get as many scholarships as she could and many required community service hours.

She sighed at her own forgetfulness and was certain she would be a few minutes late. Nice first impression that would make… She shook her head and tied up her hair, pulling on her helmet and opened the door. She revved her motorcycle to life and hit the street, making a bee line for the fire department.


	10. Chapter 10

*** Author's Note **

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this. I have been incredibly busy all the time. In fact,  
I just got a job and I start tomorrow! Wednesday, October 13! O.o what a day to start  
work! Anyway~ I am working at Subway. Eat fresh! Lol. God! I am so excited!  
Eh. Also, I broke my tooth. It sucks… I mean, it doesn't hurt… yet… The dentist  
said I would have to get root canal. This sucks lol. I can't win for losing. Never.  
Also I got a new person to add to our running list and I found two more that my radar  
had missed. I don't miss you if you review *Wink*  
_**PLEASE REVIEW!**_

Anyway~ Name drop awards today go to… DarkCarolineRiddle,  
Kiri-chan 'n' Kimi-chan, and .Xx

Also, I made an agreement with the winner of the contest to stick them in chapter 11  
because of my poor timing *sweat drop* This part was important so it had to happen  
here. Also, you will be happy because it is a longer chapter than my normal ones.  
So, Enjoy!

~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

Nina arrived ten minutes later than she was supposed to and kicked herself the entire way to the door. Everyone tried to get volunteer hours here, and with a first-come-first-serve basis, she doubted she would have a job.

This wasn't the first time she had been in this building, and as she made her way to the office in the back, she kept noticing the Halloween decor. Pumpkins adorned desks and laminated paper bats hung from the ceiling in a random fashion. When she reached the door she was looking for, she noticed there was a paper taped to the door that was labeled 'Volunteer Registration' printed in a whimsical font that only made it harder to read. She took a deep breath and opened the door, hoping for some luck.

When she entered, the lady at the desk was wearing nice clothes to be working at the fire hall, she dressed like the secretary she was, dark purple skirt and matching vest; Nina could tell that her shoes probably matched, but she couldn't see under the desk. Her hair was piled into a messy bun on the top of her head, and had at least one ink pen hiding in its frizz. She had just got off the phone and looked at Nina expectantly.

"I'm here for the volunteer work…" she said trailing off.

"Oh! I'm sorry sugar," she apologized in a very southern accent, "But I'm afraid all the spots have been filled in."

The door opened behind her and someone came in, waiting their turn to speak with the secretary. She cast them a glance and saw it was only a cop with some papers.

"None at all? Nowhere you could stick me that could use a tiny bit of extra help?" She hated begging, but she had no other options at this point, plus, some people were easy victims for it, and this secretary seemed like she was.

"I'm sorry shugg, I've already let in three extras; I really can't." So Nina's observations hadn't been wrong, she was just too late.

It was then that a voice behind her spoke, "We could use your help at the station. If you don't mind being there with Kira back…" he trailed off, thinking she would decline. Little did he know that she had absolutely no fear of Kira killing her.

"Really?" she asked in a perky voice, spinning around to look at him. Working at a police station? All the better. "Sure, I'm not going to be picky about where I get my volunteer credit from. Plus, I doubt Kira would bother any volunteers. That would just be weird."

The officer, who's name, John Rice, she made note of, gave his stack of papers to the secretary and told her that they were short staffed at his station. She thought it was probably because no one wanted to die. Many just skipped out that day.

Nina was glad that the DeathNote had indirectly made things easier for her in her daily life, but she reminded herself that the DeathNote was not for personal gain.

She followed Officer Rice out of the fire hall and outside. "Need a ride?" he asked placing a hand on the door.

She grinned, "Imagine if my dad heard. Nah, I'll pass today, officer. Plus, I really~ can't leave my bike here," she said, hopping on her motorcycle and putting her helmet on.

The officer laughed and said he'd meet her at the station; it was then that she noticed it was getting easier to ignore Light. She cast him a look and grinned, he had to find it just as ironic as she did that she was getting to work in the police department.

She revved her bike to life and followed the cop out.

When she got to the station she was relieved to find that they had motorcycle parking in the front and she instantly liked this place better.

"My kind of place," she joked with the officer, obviously talking about the parking in the front. He grinned and took her inside, showing her around some and he finally placed her in the report room to run errands for the front desk.

Nina stayed busy all day, getting passed from one person to another, never interning to one person for more than 30 minutes and quickly learned the layout of the place. By the time she got to the dispatcher, she was feeling useful and ran a few for her. She was returning with the dispatcher's coffee when she came in to find one of the few people in charge in the office. The two were being quiet though and were listening to the CB. Nina slowed when she entered the room and listened intently while passing the dispatcher her coffee.

There was another riot going on, but this one was a pro-Kira. She swallowed her smile before it could even make her lips twitch, "Ugh," she said trying to sound annoyed, "How terrible." Her words brought the other two out of their listening mode.

The deputy shook his head. "Send all available officers down there. We'll break it up before they get too many spectators and someone gets hurt," he said, sounding tired. "And here I was, going to ask you to have someone take this for me."

The dispatcher grinned, "That one's a good one," she said motioning to Nina, "follows directions to the T." she turned and began barking orders over the CB.

Nina stepped into the hall with the officer, "Listen closely. One of the criminals Kira killed lived in this district. I need you to take these case files to the FBI office at the federal plaza. And make it snappy," he was short and to the point on everything he said. She nodded and slid the file into her bag that she was still running around with, unwilling to leave it anywhere.

"Yes, sir," she said, heading straight for the door. This was going to be an interesting predicament.

She hopped on her bike, dropping her messenger bag into a saddle bag and she pulled on her helmet before leaving in a spray of gravel.

Halfway to the plaza, Nina pulled her motorcycle into a random parking lot. Checking for cameras, she took the DeathNote out of her bag, leaving it in the folder that was protecting it, and shoved it under everything else in the most cluttered saddle bag, before pulling quickly back out into the road. No way was she chancing something like taking her DeathNote into the building, no matter how badly she hated leaving it in her motorcycle. At least the bags had locks on them, with a chain lining, it made it too hard to cut the bag open anyway…

When she got to Federal Plaza, she was still not sure what she was going to do. It was an interesting concept, Kira going into the FBI headquarters, DeathNote in her bike, to turn in papers from a case file of a victim she herself had killed the night before. It was very ironic and very interesting. When she asked herself why she took the file and ran the errand, her only answer for herself was 'Know your enemies'. She thought it was odd, honestly, to be thinking of the FBI as the enemy. It kind of made her feel like a terrorist…

She shook her head as she entered the building; there was a large lobby with a couple of elevators and a large desk right there in the center.

As she approached the desk, she saw the surly looking receptionist. He looked down at her from over his desk. "State your business."

She pulled the case file out of her bag, "I need to take this to whoever is supposed to deal with the Kira case."

The receptionist unhappily gave her a visitor's ID and the office number of an Albert Kline in office 379. She thanked him and got into the elevator. Logical building layouts labeled the room numbers by the floor number, suggesting that 379 was on the third floor.

Her deductions had been correct and she quickly found the office. When she knocked on the door, she glanced through the window when she got no response. No one was in the office.

"Albert is up there visiting Randy in his office, if it's important, go see him there," Nina spun around; a large woman had come out of the office across the hall. She said thank you with a nod of her head and headed back to the elevator where there had been a floor directory.

She looked at the list of floors and names. There was no 'Randy' but she hadn't really been expecting for there to be. There were, however, three 'Randall's. The woman had said up. There was only one Randall above the 3rd floor. 523. She hit the elevator button and rode up a couple more floors. She was on her way to 523 when she _almost_ passed a couple men talking. One's floating name said 'Albert Kline' the other was not 'Randy' but someone he had probably run into on his way back to his office.

"Agent Kline?" she asked as she approached the two. Kline pardoned himself from the conversation and the other man continued to where he had initially been heading.

She dug around in her bag again and pulled out the case file. "I believe that this is for you," she said with a friendly smile, presenting him with the document as if she were so very proud of herself. She wasn't. In fact, she was quite the opposite. She was not impressed at all by the oh-so-great FBI.

He took the file without a word and looked it over, and then he sighed and closed it, "I really wish there were more leads than what there are…"

She looked at him and smiled her most innocent smile, "At least you can narrow it down to the 22 states in the eastern time zone, well, and a few other places…" she said, dropping the information her dad had given her. Surely Near had already figured that part out. This wouldn't be anything he didn't already know. Assuming that the FBI hadn't gotten a hold of him yet, or that they had and Near had not shared everything he thought about the case, she was pretty sure she would be okay either way.

He looked at her with a very confused look. "What do you mean?" he asked, very interested.

She shared with the Agent everything her father had told her earlier that day, and when she finished, he looked very thoughtful. "You came up with this on your own?" he asked.

She nodded slowly as if anyone could have come up with the same conclusion. There was a small silence and she heard the movement of fabric. When she turned to see who was there, a figure detached itself from the shadows.

"That was exactly the hypothesis I came up with, miss…" he trailed off waiting for her name.

"Nina."

"I like your reasoning skills Miss Nina," he said darkly. When he finally came out to where she could see him, she was sure she would never forget him. He had dark red hair that almost fell in his face, and ice blue eyes. He wore a grey long sleeved tee shirt and black jeans, keeping his hands in his pockets. "My name is Scott," he continued, coming over to stand by Agent Kline. "I'll remember your face," he said, but where most may consider it a friendly saying, it really sounded more like a threat. This young man did not match what she had read about Near, but he was obviously sharp. Too sharp. And here at the FBI too. She glanced up and noticed his name was not Scott as he said it was. A fake name. Interesting.

"And I, yours," she said with a light smile and a curt nod, hoping hers sounded as double edged as his, "But I must be going now, gentlemen, excuse me," she said ducking into the elevator that had just delivered two passengers from a lower floor. And watched 'Scott' as the doors closed.

She held her composure in the elevator because she was sure that the red head was going to check them, he had seemed too interested. She should have just kept her mouth shut. On her way out, she cheerfully turned in her visitor's pass and wasted no time getting on her bike.

Only when she had her helmet on, did she allow herself to frown. She furrowed her brow and cranked up her bike and went home. Work hours were over and they wouldn't be expecting her back until Wednesday.

When Nina got home, she pulled into the garage and cut the engine. Grabbing her DeathNote and stuffing it into her bag. When she passed through the kitchen, she set some chicken out on the counter to thaw, and grabbed two bags of chips, continuing to her room. Once she was in her room, she flopped onto her bed, and tossed a bag of chips to Light.

"What did you think of that so-called 'Scott'?"


	11. Chapter 11

*** Author's Note **

Sorry it took me so long to post a new chapter but Subway has been cruel to me.  
So I had Monday and Tuesday off to write on this, though it really has been in the works  
for about a month now. I don't think I can say I'm sorry enough. So we'll just pretend  
I said it at least a thousand times… [INSERT 1000 APOLOGIES HERE] there…  
So on another note, the walk in character is in this chapter! It will probably be really  
obvious who it is. If not then you need you brain checked lol! Not sure I have much else  
to add to this note other than I am honestly not sure when I will be able to update again.  
I don't really think I have any new people to add to my list of fans except maybe  
Chibirockfluff and I _technically _know her in real life. We met at the convention and  
stayed in touch. *Shrugs* Anyway~ I will stop rambling and let you read the story now.  
You know… I wonder how many people actually read my author's notes… Huh…

~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

Nina's alarm clock beeped loudly in her ear and she rolled over to turn it off, effectively smushing poor Kira.

"I'm sorry, kitty," she murmured into his fur, finally finding the elusive snooze button.

She lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of what she was going to wear just to keep from falling back asleep. She rubbed her eyes and Kira climbed on top of her and started kneading her stomach with his nails like he was making biscuits with his butt in her face. She grinned and tugged his tail and he turned around to push his cold nose into her cheek, trying to rub his face on hers. After a few minutes of playing with him, her alarm sounded again, causing him to jump.

She turned it off again and headed to the bathroom to shower, noticing along the way that she didn't see Light anywhere. She was glad she didn't have to spend every minute of her day with him, she just thought he was supposed to stick around…

When she got out of the shower, she got dressed and packed her school bag, tucking the DeathNote back into the folder she kept it safe in, and placing it in there with others and her laptop. Today was trash day so she took the bags out and put them in the can and wheeled it to the edge of the road. She did a few other things that needed to be done, like load the dishwasher and change the air filter on the central air. When she was ready to leave, she scribbled her father a note that told him that there was leftover chicken from the night before in the fridge that he could eat when he got hungry, and started him a pot of coffee before walking down a block to catch the bus.

When she got on, Anne scooted over and let her sit by the window. They had this kind of mutual agreement that the spot by the window was hers. It was never said, just understood. Plus, Anne was a bit claustrophobic sometimes and probably didn't like that seat anyway.

Once again, Nina was forced to listen, the whole bus ride, about the new boy, Nathen. About how cute he was, about his hair, about his grades, about his shyness, about enough that if someone forced her to repeat everything she knew about this guy that they would probably stick her under the stalker category and she had never even met him.

When they got to school Nina and Anne parted ways and Nina headed to her homeroom when her stomach growled. She wasn't normally one for breakfast and typically waited until lunch to eat. But her unruly stomach was demanding otherwise. She sighed and headed to the cafeteria, all but dragging her feet there. She hated the lunch room. It was always full of noisy, loud, obnoxious teenagers with too much allotted time before class.

There were your students that only came in to talk to friends they wouldn't otherwise get to see, there were those that only came there to start trouble, whether it be to start a fight or to just bad mouth others, there were some that came in there to read, now why _they_ were there was anyone's guess. Then, there were the ones like Nina that only wanted some food.

She shoved her way through the doorway that was clogged with a few too many students chatting, and walked along the back wall, keeping her head low and her eyes on the ground. Eye contact was the way you got attention. She did not want attention; she wanted food.

She got in the shortest line and quickly took in her surroundings. There was nothing that she really took note of except that a few of Anne's friends were occupying the table closest to the line and she figured she would sit with them to eat. Sitting by one's self was asking for trouble. She did notice, however, that there was a new face amongst them. The new guy didn't look interested at all in the conversations of his peers and his eyes wandered the room restlessly, finding her while she was still taking his measure. He was about her age and had a thin frame. The eyes that met hers were dark and had darker circles under them. His hair was almost white. She gave him a small smile, trying to appear friendly, because obviously this was Anne's newest interest. He seemed to not care about her after that gesture and his eyes continued their wandering. What had Anne said his name was anyway? She looked above his head: Nate River.

She tried to think back to Anne's ramblings. Nate sounded almost right. She'd have to ask Anne next time she saw her.

She had to turn away some overly bubbly freshmen that wanted to cut in front of her. She didn't want to be in the lunch room all day. When she got to where she could order her food, they were already out of muffins and she sighed to herself, settling on one of the few pieces of breakfast pizza that wasn't burnt.

When she got out of the line, she sat across from Nate and made like she was interested in the orange juice carton. He cast her a small glance and when he noticed she wasn't interested in him, though she really was, he gave her a more searching look. As if to decide how dangerous she was. She was about to wonder what was up with the look but didn't get a chance.

Someone's hands wrapped around her to cover her eyes. "Guess who!" a girl proclaimed in a voice that had a touch of a British accent.

"Hmm…" Nina said, pretending to think. "Is it Bob?" she chose a random name.

"No, silly!" she giggled, "I'm a girl~"

"Oh, well that narrows it down…" she said, as if she didn't know already. "Is it… Evie?"

The hands slid away and the girl sat in the seat beside her, Evie was grinning.

"So is this the new guy everyone is talking about?"

Nina thought about it for a second before she just shrugged and stuffed her mouth full of pizza so that she didn't incriminate herself, and she was extremely surprised by how good it was.

Evie leaned across the table some and Nina wondered if the girl knew that if she continued leaning forward that she would be exposing more of her legs than she thought the girl would be comfortable sharing with the rest of the cafeteria. Evie always wore cute clothes that were her own interpretation of the British school uniforms she used to wear when she lived there, complete with the button up under a little sweater. It really worked for her though and the added touch of her accent made it all so perfect.

"So, what is your name?" She asked him with a warm smile.

He looked at her and said his name. Nina didn't know if she hadn't heard it because he had said it quietly of if she was just too engrossed in her (very yummy) pizza to notice it.

"Sorry~ I did not hear you. It is loud in here," The girl adjusted her semi-geeky red glasses that really brought out her eyes, that were an interesting bluish grey, and she leaned a little closer. Nina grabbed the edge of her skirt, holding it down, her eyes never leaving her food. She was dying to know his spoken name but she had to keep her look of disinterest, and the pizza was doing a good job of it.

Evie jumped when Nina tugged her skirt tail and she stopped leaning forward. The poor boy obviously didn't like the attention the girl was giving him and he looked away from her.

"Nathen Roger," he said in his quiet voice. Nina chanced a glance at his name again. It defiantly said Nate River. What was up with all the fake names? Nate was using his before she used the DeathNote… And then there was Scott…

Evie grinned, "That's more like it," she said sitting down properly in her seat again, "My name in Evie Ward. We should become friends!" Nina raised an eye brow but didn't say anything until she had finished her pizza, letting the girl chat 'Nathen's ears off in the mean time. She could see why this girl was Anne's friend. They had a lot in common. But she wasn't Anne.

Nina looked at Evie and tugged on her caramel colored hair, knowing that trying to interject verbally would do her no good. This earned her a pause and she looked at Nina curiously. "Are you going to eat that?" Nina pointed to her pizza.

Evie laughed and held it above her head, "What will you give me for it?"

Nina shrugged, "What do you want for it?"

The girl grinned as if that's what she had been waiting on the entire time, "How about you let me borrow your history notes from last week?"

Nina grinned, "Deal. But I'll warn you, they aren't that great." The girl slid her pizza to her and Nina reached into her bag and passed her the blue history notebook. "Just ignore the random doodles…" she trailed off when she saw that Evie was captivated by one of the sketches.

"Where did you learn to draw like this?" she asked in a gush of air, "It is almost as good as Maria's works!"

Nina swallowed a smirk, "You think so?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

Evie nodded vigorously and flipped through the notebook looking for more, when she found one, she would study it for a second, chewing on her non-existent finger nails before flipping to another one.

"Thank you for letting me borrow this!" she said cheerfully and hopped out of her seat, "I will give this to Anne to give to you before you get on the bus, 'kay?"

Nina nodded, her mouth full of the addicting pizza, and gave a small wave as Evie started to leave only to get dragged into at least three conversations on her way out of the cafeteria.

"You… um… You are a good artist…" She slid her eyes over to look at 'Nathen'

"Thank you. I guess." She said with a grin. Nina had not been expecting him to talk to her. Anne had said he was really shy. And it was obvious that he was not used to too much human interaction.

He just nodded and twirled a small piece of his hair looking back down the table. Apparently that's all he was going to say.

By the time she finished her second piece of pizza, she had gotten a few 'Look who joined us's and 'Hey Nina is Anne here?'s and when she was ready to go, she gave Nate a small nod and dumped her tray, heading to her homeroom with only a few minutes to spare. She was going to have to look into this 'Nathen'…

The day passed with nothing to mark it as out of the ordinary aside from breakfast. The history teacher went over Friday's test and gave out everyone's grade on it, so she didn't need her notebook to take notes. Apparently all her studying (or lack thereof) got her was a 92. Not too bad, but it really could have been better.

When she got on the bus, Nina grinned at Anne. "I saw your lover boy~" Anne's eyes got wide.

"You met Nathen?" she asked in a cheery voice. It almost made her cringe to know that she didn't know his real name.

"Yeah…" she said trailing off. "Want to get something to eat later?"

Anne looked up at her swiftly, "Sure where?" She asked, curious if Nina was using the code.

"How about the usual place?" Nina looked out the window.

Anne nodded, "Give me about an hour and a half after you get home. Okay?"

Nina nodded, she would meet her at 7 then.

"Oh and here's your notes that Evie borrowed." Anne passed Nina her blue notebook.

She flipped it open and instantly noticed the bubble like writing between and around last week's notes. There was spelling corrections and parts where she corrected some dates, extra notes that were probably important that she had forgotten to write. Nina grinned. Evie was smart, she had to give her credit for that. She closed it back and told herself that she would have to thank her for the changes later.


	12. Chapter 12

*** Author's Note ***

So it wasn't instant, but here is! The new chapter! Sorry it's short, but… I'm short  
too so Nya! Okay. So honestly I should probably be in the bed instead of writing a  
chapter all night. I kept getting distracted by things on the internet. Between spells of  
coughing my brains out. I'm sick but there's only so much medicine you can take and  
still show up for work eh? Anyway~ I noticed something about my typing recently…  
I am apparently the kind of person that will erase an entire line to fix a spelling error in  
the beginning then to click or use the arrows to get to it. It is a waste of time I know. I  
just can't stop myself. Gah I just did it again. I'm just going to kill over I think.  
Oh yeah! And I have two more fans Woo~ MarLuna and xXulquigirlXx Welcome aboard  
I'm flattered when I see on the line graphs that someone has visited my story, my heart  
is warmed when someone adds me or my story to their alert list. Even more so when I  
become one of their favorites! But when I get a review, I just want to kiss you. Okay…  
Maybe kiss the computer screen or something… Yeah… Meet in the middle kind of  
thing I guess… Anyway~ So yeah… PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! It makes me love  
you even more! I mean it. And have you noticed recently how many words this story has  
now? Try **Twenty One Thousand** and some change. I'm sure part of it though can be  
accredited to my (rather lengthy and probably annoying) author's notes… So I think  
I'll end this one here… Before it gets too bad…

~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

Nina walked back to her house slowly, everything she needed to be doing swimming around in her head. She needed to find out about so many people. Her list was getting longer than she was typically used to. Scott, Nate, Andrew… Who knew where Light was and she and Anne were going to have to start writing names in the DeathNote on a regular basis now.

She grumbled and kicked the ground, sending a small pebble bouncing across the sidewalk where it landed in a drain. She stopped by the hole and looked in on the now damp little rock. Sometimes she felt like that. Like the only time she could ever get anywhere was when someone gave her a boost and she always somehow wound up in a worse place than she started out in. No one was going to kick it out of the drain. She looked up and started walking home, hoping deep inside that the little pebble's dream was to end up in the river and that the drain was a straight shot there. Then all it would have to do is wait on some rain.

When she reached her house, she tried to keep her mind busy by keeping her hands busy. She started out by emptying her father's ashtrays, all 20 or 30 of them then moved on to everything else.

She had finally run out of things to do around five o'clock and flopped down on her bed where Kira climbed up on her stomach and played with a loose string on the hem of her shirt. She laid there and watched him for a while before flipping through a magazine that she had gotten in the mail that day. It was full of Halloween stuff; costumes and party supplies covered all the pages and she wondered what costume Anne was cooking up for her this year. It had been a long time since she had picked her own.

She was still flipping through the magazine when she felt the cat stiffen and she heard a small hiss. She jumped up and saw Light had apparently decided to join her again. She grinned at him, determined to beat him to it, "So where have you been, Mr. Death God?" she asked, only half interested in what a Death God does in his free time.

"The shinigami realm. We may have a problem." He looked at her seriously, without smiling.

She raised an eyebrow, pulling little Kira into her lap and petting him so that he would stop growling at Light, "How so?"

"I went up there to check on things. But I noticed something odd. One was missing. And when I asked Disaster where Ryuk was… he informed me that Ryuk had dropped his DeathNote very close to mine. I really don't like the sound of that. There's no telling what that bastard has planned. He doesn't care about this world; he only cares about keeping himself amused…" Light trailed off, glaring at the wall and Nina was honestly glad that he wasn't looking at her with that look. She didn't know who this 'Ryuk' was or what he did to Light to make him think about him with a look like that on his face but she wasn't sure she wanted to meet him either. One Death God was enough for her…

She looked at her cat and tried to chew on the piece of information that she just heard. Another DeathNote. Close to her. She closed her eyes and could almost feel a head ache forming. Things we forget, we are doomed to repeat. Did the world forget about Kira? If this person wasn't careful, they would start drawing more attention to New York, and she couldn't let that happen, not since they already knew she was in the Eastern Time zone.

She took a deep breath and tried to think more positively. Perhaps this person, if she found them in time, would be the Misa to her Light. Though… Misa had always been a weak link in the chain of things… She wasn't sure she wanted someone like that. But if she could get her hands on their DeathNote, then Anne could have one too… She kicked at a paper wad on the floor, scooting it around while thinking and Kira promptly left her lap, waging a small three way war between the paper and her toes.

Nina took a deep breath and sighed loudly, standing up and making her way to her dad's study, finding a few things to do between here and there, but ultimately she found herself in the study.

She stepped in quietly so she didn't disturb whatever he was doing and she stopped by his shoulder, gracefully sitting on the floor beside him and laying her head on his knee, looking up at his screen. Watching. Learning.

This was something she had always done since she was little. And she raised an eyebrow to see that he was actually working today. Anthony Laverock was what is called a white hat hacker. And as she sat there watching him, she thought about the concept again for the thousandth time.

So a hacker gets tired of hacking or needs a challenge, so they either start or join an internet security group. This group or individual really, is then hired to patch up security holes in servers and business networks, making them hacker proof. Or in some cases they boldly strike out and hack a person's site or server and then contact them saying 'Hey, I hacked your server. Here's how I did it. Here's how I could make it so that no one else can.' It really reminded her of that show some of Anne's friends watched called _It Takes a Thief._

Currently her dad was working on an admin interface for a bank. She smiled to herself, sometimes her dad would give her a copy of his source code to let her mess with and she would hack it and give it back, noticing little things that he would miss. Sometimes, her father would get so deep into the complicated parts that he would miss the simple things.

She wasn't white hat material yet, and, if she was honest with herself, she wasn't much better than a script kiddy. She bit her lip for even thinking it and tilted her head so she could read every line of what he was manually typing out. Nina watched as his fingers danced across the keyboard while he coded, only ever pausing the half second before he popped the enter key with a bang for each new line.

And it was a while before she noticed the time, having lost herself in her father's wall of text…


	13. Chapter 13

*** Author's Note ***

Wow~ Really really sorry about the wait on this chapter! I know I swore not to make you  
wait that long again… But I have been so busy. They fired all the night shift workers at  
Subway but me. And it SUCKS! I mean. Sure~ More hours and all but god! I will  
practically have all this week off though… because they are training new workers.  
Anyway… WOW! 40 reviews! Holy cow! I Love reviews! So write me more.  
When I got that last one I was like, "I have no excuse" so I sat up all night three times  
in a row to finish this for my loyal readers! Speaking of readers… I think I'll go ahead  
with the thank you's! In no particular order… Thank you:  
SingingSyd, Blanchefleur Forsythia, Thorfaxdragonkin, & (for some reason, it won't show a name...)  
(I'll take out the dashes and the period I guess) [I am a kitty MEOW]  
for liking my story I guess lol.  
I decided to reread my own story and discovered very quickly that the first and second  
chapters are… To put it bluntly… TERRIBLE  
I can see why I don't have any more readers than I do. You practically have to choke  
through them. After that it's fine though. Ugh. I am totally going to redo those. Or I'll  
just talk about it and never do it… Now that sounds more like me… Yeah…

Anyway~! Reviews are food. Remember to feed your author or they will die.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW  
~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

"Aw crap!" Nina hissed, trying to lean more to see the time, "what ti-"

"About twenty till seven," her dad cut her off, finishing a line of code before turning to look at her for the first time that day. "Have somewhere to be?" he asked when she stood and danced a bit at the renewed blood flow to her right leg.

"Yeah, I promised to meet Anne at seven," he nodded, and she started to head out when he looked back at his screen.

"Hey, kitten?" he called just as she tried to rush out the door. She stuck her head back in after a second wanting to leave as fast as she could. "Did anyone catch you on the government database Thursday?"

"No it's cool, I had a lookou- Hey!" she covered her mouth. "Why you~"

He never looked away from his computer but she could see the skin by his eyes crinkle and knew he was smiling. "I would recognize my script anywhere. I'm surprised you didn't when you hacked it."

"Then it was you that…"

"Nearly caught you? Yes~" he was amused. He must not have known what she was after on that trip. And he had said 'Government' not 'Police' database…

"I was just poking around. What with elections coming up and all…" He turned around suddenly and fixed a hard look on her, and she just knew he had seen right through her…

"So… Are you democratic or republican?" His serious expression held but she could have passed out in relief. He didn't seem it, but he was very into politics.

"I'm independent, Dad, and I'm in a hurry~" she blew him a kiss and hurried back to her room, her dad yelling something that sounded like "Safe answer" at her back.

She grabbed the things she thought she would need and shoved them into her bag, nearly tripping as she left her room while trying to sling her bag onto her shoulder and pull on her tennis shoes at the same time.

Light followed her silently as she went through all the familiar motions of leaving the house on her motorcycle, and was on her tail as she left the house on her way to the apartment.

When Nina parked her beauty, she had just unlocked the front door when she saw a beat up looking taxi cab drop Anne off through the nearest of the hallways. She pushed the door open a crack to keep from having too many text messages from the sensor. She made eye contact with Light and made a head motion, telling him to go on in, and she was sure he knew that he could have some chips. There was really couldn't be any other point, considering it's not like it mattered where he stood.

Anne grinned when she saw her and skipped over, following her into the living room closely, "Bring food?" she asked, "It's your turn~"

Nina grinned and fished out her disposable phone, that had about twenty different food delivery numbers programmed into it, and held it up, "Chinese sound good?" The blonde giggled and Nina shook her head, fried noodles gave Anne some very un-ladylike gas. "Actually… How about pizza again today…"

Anne collapsed on a beanbag in giggles, holding her sides and trying her hardest to get them under control and failing. Terribly.

Nina rolled her eyes and selected a nearby Domino's, ordering a pizza and bread sticks around Anne's bubbles of random giggles that managed to continue for quite a while before she finally managed to control herself.

She rearranged her beanbag and sat across the coffee table from Anne, pulling out her laptop and flopping the DeathNote on the surface between them, turning her attention to her keyboard. Anne picked up the notebook and flipped through the pages while Nina pecked at her keyboard, setting up decent proxies for the time she was spending at the apartment until the doorbell rang and Anne slid the DeathNote under her seat before paying for the pizza and sitting it on the table, fishing out the DeathNote before flopping back down. Nina set her laptop down in the floor and took a slice of pizza when Anne opened the box.

"So what did you need to talk about anyway?" Anne asked, almost as soon as Nina's mouth was full.

When she finally got her mouth empty again, she was about to answer when she heard a small chime sound from her laptop. She lifted the lid more to see what was going on just in time to see her whole screen go black except for a square in the middle…

"Hey Kitten, it's Dad again, just wondering if you went out today, would you pick up some cigarettes? I know you usually get them on Wednesday and all, but I'm nearly out. I put this on here so I wouldn't be bothering you if you didn't go out anywhere today. But if you got this, then you are somewhere besides home. So please get those for me on your way home. Please. You know how I get when I've not had my nicotine… Also, Kira says hi. Right Kira? Yes you do. Yes you do~ And so does my new wireless mouse! Look, it has nine buttons! And they have all proven to be very very very very very useful! And so does my new mouse pad. Look! It has Yumi from 'Puni Kami' on it. And it smells like strawberries…"

Her father's hacker message continued on for a few minutes longer but she closed the lid, shutting it up so she could eat. There was no way to close his messages; none of the normal ways worked, and short of removing the battery, there wasn't much else you could do then just listen to it. Thankfully, he normally got his point across first and then rambled afterwards. Anne was just staring at her, pizza hanging from her mouth.

"What?" she asked, "Do I have something on my face?" she teased, pretending to wipe at things she knew were not there.

"Your dad is so funny sometimes…" Anne said with an oddly straight face.

"Funny as in haha? Or funny as in belongs on the funny farm?" Nina asked, a smile pulling at her lips as hard as she tried to keep her composure.

"Both?" She asked, giggling some. Nina nodded and ate more of her pizza, totally in agreement that her dad could sometimes be a hilarious basket case.

"So listen…" she started hesitantly when she finished eating, "The thing I wanted to tell you…" She trailed off hesitantly and watched Anne who watched her. "Well there are a bunch of things really."

Anne chuckled and leaned back, "Naturally."

"We need to do research on some people. Andrew Meeks. Duh. And two others. Your little friend Nathan." Anne had been picking at the hem of her shirt while she listened but her eyes snapped up to Nina's when she mentioned her classmate. "His real name is Nate River…" The girl's brow furrowed as she looked at the carpet with a perplexed look.

Light stiffened beside Nina and she looked at him swiftly, her eyes searching his for what he wasn't telling her. He obviously recognized the name. What did that mean though? Was he from Kira's past? Surely not. He would have only been a boy during the original investigation…

Anne looked up at the two with a confused expression. "Okay, fill in the only one of us who can't see people's names and life spans." Light's lips pulled back into a grin and Nina knew he was thinking about offering Anne the deal again, but the look Nina shot him reminded the death god he had agreed not to bring it back up.

"Apparently Light knows the name Nate River. He is, however, not allowed to share that with us. Or how he knows him… Stupid rules…" Nina growled, flipping through the DeathNote angrily. "Oh and there's the Scott guy I met the other day at the FBI plaza…"

"What were you doing at the FBI plaza!" Anne asked surprised. Nina chuckled remembering that she hadn't had a chance to tell her about her volunteer time.

She took a deep breath and explained everything that had happened, keeping it as short as she could, but still explaining enough that Anne could completely understand the relations between things. When she finished, Anne was ferociously scratching at her nail polish. Something she did when she was connecting dots in her head.

"There was a guy that transferred in at the same time Nathan did. He sounds just like him. In fact… I think his name is Scott… And neither are going by their real names, eh? Sounds really weird…"

Nina nodded in agreement and chanced another look at Light, wondering what had to be going through the god's head, because he was obviously badly troubled by whatever this meant.

"Bleh… back to Andrew then I guess…" Anne reached into her bag and pulled out a manila envelope. "This is everything I could get on him. It's not much… but we know where he is now anyway." She tossed it onto Nina's bag, "You can look at it when you get home I guess…"

Nina looked at her friend, feeling sorry for her. She was obviously confused over everything that had to do with Nate and she watched as the other girl finished off the paint on one thumb, moving to the other.

"We should head back now. How do you spell their names so I can do some research on them?" Nina wrote the boys names down and passed her the paper, watching her fold it tightly and tuck it deeply into her sock.

"I'll judge some names. You go on. I'll have them die spread over three days or so, in case we can't get together soon." She smiled up at Anne as she stood, and it was obvious the other was thankful she didn't have to write any names in it this time. She would get used to it. Everything Nina knew about psychology said she would.

"Okay. Let me use the food phone to call a cab. I'll call another one from mine once I get to the diner." Nina nodded and passed her the disposable phone, pulling her laptop back into her lap.

Anne punched in a number that she had obviously memorized a long time ago and called a cheap cab to pick her up. Nina had helped her pick out where one cab left her and another picked her up, making it so that it was a little harder for Anne's family to track her. Not that they didn't trust her, just that if the cab driver got to running his mouth to show off to one of the aids, he wouldn't be able to rat her out that she had been at the apartment. All he could tell them is something that the family already knew. That he had picked her up at a little diner that had a library a floor above it, where she and Nina supposedly spent their time studying and such.

Anne didn't drive, for many reasons. Mostly, she didn't want to. She really enjoyed being driven around. But there were other reasons. Like her mother… She was very protective over her when it came to some things. She was fine with her daughter riding double on Nina's bike, but she had never allowed her behind the wheel of a golf cart, much less a real car.

At the sound of an impatient horn, Anne slipped out and left Nina alone with her DeathNote and god of chips. Er… Death.


	14. Chapter 14

*** Author's Note ***

Wow… I'm really sorry guys, I feel terrible. I've been so busy lately. We just can't  
seem to keep employees around. I walk on egg shells because I need my job. I guess  
the others don't care enough because it's only minimum wage. I don't care though!  
I know just how lucky I am to have a job right now.  
ANYWAY~!  
Everybody wanted to know more about Scott so I gave him another little bit for you.  
And… I feel terrible for this but… I've had a good bit of this chapter finished since like...  
February. Early February… But like I said, I'm very very sorry… I really am.  
And honestly, It's probably **Shimigami King's** messages that kept me working on  
it, even if all I got done was a few sentences before I had to hit the sack or go to work.  
He's not the only one I should thank though. Big thank you's to everyone that reviewed!  
And more thank you's for the (sadly one) person just joining us… **Expendable Red Shirt  
**They are awesome because they reviewed. Anyone that reviews is awesome by the way~!

I'm done rambling now~ So Enjoy!  
~Gebrelle

*** End Note ***

Scott glared at the list of names on the screen in front of him. There were so many names it nearly made him sick just looking at it. No one should have this much power over another person's life. It didn't bother him that there was less filth in the world, just that no one was a god. They really shouldn't have the power of one either.

"What do you make of this?" A quiet voice asked from behind him. He probably would have jumped had he not been trained not to.

"I have deduced that there is an 87.46% probability that this Kira is a female." He stated without even turning to look at Near, knowing that there was a chance his roommate would not reply with eye contact.

"I have not come up with the same figures…" Scott shrugged, he didn't care if Near disagreed. He would find Kira and prove once and for all that Near was just a spoiled recluse that had got lucky once. Without L, Mello, and… Matt's sacrifices, the brat never would have been able to dream of ever catching Light…

He was nearly certain this Kira was a girl. 36.8% of the criminal's judged had been women. None of the male Kiras had ever hit that high of a percentile of female victims. The only time the number had come close to that was when Misa had been active in her killings…

Near shifted behind him and he saw him twirling his hair around his finger from the side of his vision. "Well. I believe it would be your time to share…"

The other boy turned his large dark eyes on Scott, and he chanced eye contact. "I defiantly agree that Kira is in the Eastern Time zone. When we spoke earlier, I didn't really express my affirmation on the subject…" he said as softly as he usually did, referencing the time a few hours ago when Scott had attempted to speak to him but was met with nothing but silence.

"Anything to _add_?" Scott asked, turning his gaze back to his laptop, using sheer force of will to not roll his eyes at the other boy.

There was a long pause before Near finally answered, "Not as of yet…" then his presence was gone from Scott's side. Probably to go play with his toys again…

It didn't surprise him that Near agreed about the time zone deduction, that girl Nina had come up with that by herself also… He wondered who she was. She had been wearing a visitor's badge and he hadn't seen her around after that, and when he had asked Kline who she was, he told him that all he knew was she had come from the police station to bring him the file on the Kira victim, honestly, the agent didn't really seem to care about the girl. Not that he did… Just that it was odd for another to have come up with the same deductions so quickly, and considering she was not in the FBI, she couldn't be officially on the case. So there was no reason for her to have spent much time thinking about it… Unless she had ulterior motives for looking into it…

He pressed his palm to his forehead. Not everyone was Kira. He had to start thinking rationally, it wasn't likely the girl was Kira or she wouldn't have just shared a piece of information like the time zone as she had. Kira would have tried to keep that to themselves… hoping it took the police longer to figure it out…

* * *

When Nina got home she dropped her bag by her bed and flopped down in her pillows, still wearing her riding jacket and shoes. After the thousand some odd names they had written in the DeathNote, the couple dozen she wrote felt like it only took a few minutes and she really didn't feel any kind of remorse at killing this time. Not one shred of guilt. Only feeling guilty that she hadn't felt sorry for them.

She reached into her bag, finding the DeathNote, returning it to its usual hiding place, and fished out her dad's cigarettes. She wasn't really old enough to legally buy tobacco yet, and still had a few months until she was eighteen but there was a place that sold to minors that could keep their mouth shut. She'd been buying from them since she was old enough to drive. Her dad never asked her how or where she got them and she never brought it up, buying him a carton every Wednesday, sometimes a day or two earlier.

She rotated the red box in her hands as she watched Light practically pace in her room that seemed too small for the Death God.

He knew Nate… Light had only left Japan once when dealing with the mafia members over in California, and even then only for a few hours on a covert mission... That would mean Nate had been in Japan during the investigation…

Nina scratched her stomach lazily as her thoughts tumbled around, her eyes following Light around the room.

"What ya lookin' at kitten?" she jumped, sitting up so quickly she nearly dropped the box, fighting with it in midair for a few seconds as it bounced around her hands, where she finally caught it clutching it to her chest with a sigh.

She grinned up at him, "Well… I don't have to go to the bathroom anymore."

He sat down on the foot of her bed, "I'll pretend that's a good thing… And, I'll take those," he said with a grin, knowing that she had gotten his message. He tore into the box eagerly, pulling out a pack and unwrapping it, tearing out all the foil.

"They give you a lot of steps to go through just to get a smoke…" she commented as he pulled one out, lighting it with a sigh.

He nodded, "They really do… And I should quit smoking…" he leaned against his daughter companionably as he spoke, "It would even be better for you…"

Nina pretended to bite his arm when he mentioned her, "You shouldn't worry about me… You should worry about you. And, no offense, but I really don't see it happening any time soon," she giggled, trying to imagine her dad without cigarettes for more than a few hours.

He pretended to be offended, pushing her away from him and effectively knocking her over, "I bet you I can!" she nodded, playing along, "And if I do, you have to make steak for dinner."

"Uh huh. Except that even if you went from now till dinner without one, it doesn't count as quitting," her dad pounced then, putting her in a headlock, noogying her until her hair bow came out.

She escaped to retrieve it before Kira had a chance to run off with it, slipping it onto her wrist. "Why was your hair up anyway?"

She looked up at him, "So my hair stays out of my face in my helmet…"

He smiled suddenly and hugged her head, "Good girl…" She snuggled into his chest, glad he was happy with her.

All too soon it was over and he stood up, walking to her door, "Back to work… Hey, what's for dinner?"

She sighed and leaned back on her hands, "It's fend-for-yourself night," she teased, and when he poked out his bottom lip in reply, she grinned, "Fine. How about ribs?" He nodded enthusiastically and left her room, his house shoes making soft sounds as he went back to his study.

She waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before she fished out the envelope Anne had given her. Inside was a pack of papers and a CD.

The papers consisted of address changes, places of employment, and few papers were from police stations consisting of charges that ranged from theft to assault.

Nina pushed them away and stuffed them back into their envelope, there was no point in even looking at them until she and Anne could hit the library and do some serious research on them, using the files she now had in her possession.

She grumbled and stuffed them between the mattresses on her bed, stepping into the kitchen to set out some ribs for dinner, and she was surprised when she noticed the fridge looked like it was in need of a few groceries and she laughed to herself, she'd have to go grocery shopping tomorrow since she was going to be busy Wednesday with her volunteer work for the police station.

Nina chuckled, reminding herself of a certain creepy Death God that was haunting her… It still amused her that 'Kira' was working at the local police station.

She grabbed a soda and made her way back to her room and pushed the door shut, turning on the TV before flopping down on her bed lazily. She had left the channel on the news and she rolled her eyes when a reporter with too much make up tried to dramatically relay the story, trying –and failing, she'd add– to keep you on the edge of your seat with the pauses in her words as if anyone cared that much.

This current report was about where someone had hit a fire hydrant and flooded some of downtown, the water company had to turn off the main line, shutting down most food places and lots of people complained like it was only their comfort that the rest of the world cared about.

She stared at the screen feeling her boredom growing faster by the second when she noticed the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

_DUE TO THE HIGH SECURITY RISK OF THE MURDERER CALLED KIRA, THERE WILL BE A CEASE IN THE AIRING OF CRIMINALS TO THE PUBLIC. THIS IS AN ORDER FROM THE FBI AND IS FOR THE PROTECTION OF EVERYONE. _

Right after was something about a five car collision on one of the highways. Not that she was interested in it…

"Well, Shit…" Nina muttered, knowing that they were going to pull all the names and faces from any reliable American webpage out there.

She growled some and pulled out her cell phone, typing a quick text to Anne: Seen the News?

She waited a minute for Anne to figure out to what she was referencing. After a minute she got her reply: We'll have to grab something to eat again soon then…


	15. Chapter 15

*****Authors Note*****

Sorry guys, I know it has been way too long since I've updated, and I'm sad to say that it  
took me losing my job to have time to write on my stories… I laid around the house  
feeling useless for about a week and then I caught up on reading my favorite fics. And  
was all like, Wow… I bet all my readers would like to have seen an update… and Yeah  
I'm sorry so I'll just keep updating regularly until I am no longer unemployed lol  
So let's see, I believe a list of thank you's is in call for! THANK YOU:

**Modz4u, Okay Wow, Shadowkiller13, ShokoraNushi, TouchingTheSkyInMyDreams**, And **Salamander B. Hat**

Thank you all so much! I am going to try to keep updating a lot. I am determined this time!  
In fact, I got bitten by a dog, and so I am having to type the whole thing with my right  
middle finger in the air! I can't touch a key without it killing me… So~ Proof I am Loyal!  
Well whatever right? Enjoy The chapter!

~Gebrelle

*****End Note*****

The alarm blared unrelentingly in Nina's ear, and she let it, only rolling to stare at the glaring red numbers that informed her of the fact that she had already slept through too many previous alarms to press snooze again.

Why were people even required to _live_ on Tuesdays? Everyone around her said Mondays were the worst day of the week. But no. Nina had always believed Tuesdays were so much worse… Even though Monday was usually the beginning to a long week, at least you had rested during the week end. But with Tuesdays, you had the rest of a long week in front of you, without the rest of the day before. Making it so much worse in her opinion.

The alarm continued to blare and her cat got irritated, walking all over her, as if to roll her out of bed himself, only bugging her as he was trying to help. Nina growled and pushed him off her side, sitting up and smacking her alarm clock to turn it off.

Nina could only grumble to herself as she stumbled her way to the bathroom, Light looking on perceptively, knowing the source of her bad mood, having watched her pound frustratedly at her keyboard, trying to find decent webpages that she could trust to continue to give her reliable criminal information.

She spent forever in the shower, just letting the water run off her body as she just stood in the warm spray, trying to straighten her mindset, knowing she would just have to find another way to get a hold of names from now on since the FBI had done a rather thorough job of censoring the sites that mattered.

When she finally came out of the bathroom, Kira and Light were staring at each other, seeming to have a contest, not that she could have cared less at the moment since she was pushing her time before school, and she haphazardly threw everything into her laptop bag, only taking her time when it came to her DeathNote, tucking it into the paper folder that had become its protective housing, making sure it was nestled safely in the bottom of the bag, not trusting it in her bedroom, knowing her dad would find it if he searched her room.

Nina decided to go ahead and start her dad's coffee. However the floor had other plans, and her head hit the door frame as she tripped over the threshold to the hallway, drawing a few choice words that her dad would have laughed at had he heard.

She scowled at the floor and door as if they had both done it intentionally before checking the laptop in her bag. Oddly enough it wasn't even in her bag… That was a good thing, though she had almost left the house without it… She growled to herself as she stuffed it in her bag, dusting herself off and rubbing the darkening mark at her hair line, leaving her in a terrible mood as she stomped to the kitchen, starting her dad's coffee and locking the door behind her as she walked down to the bus stop.

She barely made it there in time only to find that Anne wasn't even there. So of course someone else had taken the first opportunity that they had gotten to take that back seat… She muttered unhappily to herself as she plopped down in an empty seat somewhere in the middle of the bus.

"Today just isn't your day is it?" She heard from behind her, but she didn't bother responding, knowing it was only Light. She did however give him a tiny shake of the head as she pulled out her phone, finding missed texts from Anne, meant to have informed her much earlier that morning telling she had gone to visit some family that was in town and that she would probably not be in school for a few days… At least one, at most three… How pleasant…

She glared out the window, catching her reflection, and she decided she looked like Kira when she bathed him, soaked, tired, and mad at the world.

The scenery passed outside her widow in the all too familiar bus route. The one she had watched pass since she was ten years old, once her tiny broken family was able to settle down and start rebuilding after everything that had shredded their peaceful life before…

The thought alone made her grit her teeth, just a few more months and she would never have to ride the monotonous route over and over, twice a day five days a week… Ugh… She couldn't wait to graduate…

She looked up at the front of the bus as it made a turn it never took, and rolled her eyes as the 'helpful' noisy kids in the front informed their new bus driver that he had gone the wrong way… She couldn't wait to get to school… And she was going to eat some of that pizza… The pizza would make it all better…

When the bus FINALLY made it to the school, she shoved her way to the cafeteria, only to be disheartened when she found the only things on the menu today was French toast sticks and muffins… She decided on the latter, figuring the first would look the same on the trip out as they did on the serving tray…

Once again she chose to sit across from Nathen and couldn't help but wonder at the death glare Light was giving the guy. She stuffed her face, watching the boy out of the corner of her eye. He was solving and scrambling a rubix cube looking rather bored, always keeping his eyes lowered. She had lost interest in him when he finally looked up, she looked at him curiously, finding him looking behind her, and she turned a little to figure out what would have grabbed the quiet one's attention, never expecting what she was met with.

Ice blue eyes locked with hers, and she could feel a cold feeling of dread creep down her spine as he approached with a cocky smile, and she faked the best one she was capable of…

"Well~ Just the two I was hoping to see. And together no less?" He cast Nathen a curious look that the white haired boy shrugged off, his attention returning to the toy in his hand, leaving the surprisingly intense questioning look to fall to her.

She kept her grin, "Should I be flattered?"

He blinked, losing his curiosity, his smirk getting on her nerves, "I wouldn't say so…"

Ah. So he disliked her as much as she disliked him… "So may I assist you wi-"

"Nina~!" A little British ball of perky flounced over to land in the seat beside her, "Who's this cutie?"

Nina forced herself not to sigh, "Evie, this is…" All she could think of was the red letters over his head and his alias stuck to the roof of her mouth for a moment, "um… Scott right?" She thought that sounded right… A nod from the red head made her feel much better.

"Oh~ So you two know each other?" the girl purred, insinuating more than just _knowing _the other.

"I've met him in passing…"

"So have you showed him your pictures yet?" she was beaming looking way too happy for this early in the morning…

"Evie… I'm sure he's not interested in-"

"But it looks like Maria's~"

She could feel the smile that she was already having a hard time holding slipping and she chanced a look at Scott who was giving an almost shocked look to Nathen who had looked up at her dully.

"I thought it was rather nice…" She wanted to fall in a hole. This 'Scott' was too perceptive as it was, without giving him more reason to remember her specifically…

"If Nathen says it's worth looking at then perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing?" Those intense eyes were digging in her own and she bit her lip, pilfering through her untidy bag, looking for a random notebook she knew would have art in it, finally settling on the one she had lent Evie and passing it to the boy that was watching her so intensely.

He flipped through it very slowly, his eyes taking every bit of the sketch before turning to the next. "I'm secretly a big fan of Maria's…" he said, his eyes locking with hers for a moment and she shrugged as if she didn't care one way or the other, as Evie rambled about how Nina liked her too and she had gone with Anne and her a few times to exhibits that Maria's stuff had been in… Nina wished she could just make the girl shut up… Normally her chatter was calming but today she was telling the one… Maybe two… people that she didn't need to know these things everything that they could possibly want on her.

"Did you know that Maria is classified as an anonymous artist because she never comes in person to pick up prizes or to even submit things?" It took everything in Nina not to flinch at Scott's words as he passed back the notebook, "And I like the artist mark you hide in your work."

Nina felt some of her color leave and her muffin suddenly seemed too dry and stuck in her mouth. All she did was nod, making a big thing of her mouth being full, as she avoided answering.

Nina marked all her art. Anne took marked art and put a cute little boat at the bottom with the name 'Maria'. If Scott saw the marks hidden so well in her art, then he could see it in Maria's… Though the point of the blatant mark was to draw from the hidden ones…

Light muttered something about Evie talking too much and Nina almost agreed aloud, having to check herself for it, trying to block him out again. Ugh… She really needed to distract Scott before he thought about it too much…

There was a big commotion on the other side of the lunchroom and Evie wasted no time going over there, leaving her alone with the two strange boys.

"So now that we're alone, what were you doing over at the FBI plaza?" She looked at him curiously, as did Nathen.

"I was instructed to take a case file there… Did I give it to the wrong person?" Don't let them know that you knew all too well it was the right agent.

"No… Kline was who is in charge of the files…" He looked at her almost sideways, obviously trying to figure her out, "Who sent you?"

"The police station…Why?" Innocent. Be innocent.

He just shrugged, "You just seem pretty smart is all… Have a good head on your shoulders it seems…" He looked her over and she tried not to squirm because it wasn't a nice look… It was more like the look someone gives a person when they are wondering how many knots are required in the noose they are going to use to hang a person…

Nathen wasn't looking at her and was instead looking at Scott through the corner of his eyes. "She does seem quite intelligent…"

"So how did you get to the Plaza? Surely you didn't take a Kira file on the public bus?" Perfect. Just what she needed. Something to make him wonder that wouldn't hurt her at all if he dug for it.

"Eh?" She asked innocently, "D-does it matter?" She looked down at her food and stuffed more muffin in her mouth.

He raised an eyebrow, "So you did?"

She shook her head, mouth still carefully full.

"A taxi? A friend take you?" She shook her head after each one, "I'm not playing a guessing game…"

She finally cleared her mouth, "I drove."

He raised an oddly red eyebrow again, "So why did it matter when I asked?"

"It doesn't" She answered quickly, as if hiding what she had been driving, knowing he would try to pry outside of school since if he did in school, he wouldn't find out anything. There were very very few that knew she had a bike. And when he did dig up what she drove, he would find out it was a motorcycle and assume she didn't want others to know about it.

He just nodded, accepting that she wasn't going to tell him anymore.

"So~? You two know each other huh? Does Nathen hang around the FBI plaza too?"

Scott looked at Nathen, "Yes… We're both special agents that they only call for almost impossible cases. We're currently teamed with a special division of the FBI called together to crack the new Kira case."


	16. Chapter 16

***Author's Note***

So this next chapter came along pretty easy, but it really is more of an intermission  
mostly because I NEED all of you to understand more of how Scott and the older  
Near think and behave. It really is important. I promise. I really like Scott, even though  
he can be mean. I hope you guys like him as much as I do… Because I be loven' me some  
antagonist. You know? If Nina is Light, Scott is a bad ass L. And I apologize for the  
steadily increasing amount of wordy dirties in the chapters but it wouldn't be the same  
without them. Ya know? Don't think I have any NEW fans. But super duper thank yous  
to my loyal fans that leave reviews~!

Oh and I rigged my Fanfiction to send all my reviews and messages and fan list and all  
that happy jazz to my phone. I don't have internet on the stupid thing either… Cool huh?  
So just know that when you review I get it right then! Send me love! Please~?

Okay! Enjoy Scott's side.

~Gebrelle

***End Note**

Scott rubbed his forehead. Again. Where did all these headaches keep coming from? Why was he asking himself this? Of course it was the damn Kira case… It was occupying his thoughts at all times. He hadn't even had time to think about anything other than the murders. Hadn't really been allowed to.

In the Wammy house, you had always best do what you were told. Not that he had always followed the rules… He and Matt never really had. He had always followed the older boy around like a puppy, doing everything he had. Be it play soccer with the other boys or play a few rounds of Super Mario and Pokemon on their game boys, he had always done everything Matt had. Well… Everything but smoke… And he could never see what Matt saw in Mello… He had felt so privileged when Matt shared his real name with him… But all too soon he learned that Mello had known his name for years… It had hurt and he distanced himself from the boy he had once considered a brother even if they were all orphans…

Near turned his large dark eyes to him, making him want to glare, but instead he kept up a carefully unreadable face, Near's Mirrored right back at him. Exactly as they had been trained. No one knew what all went on in the orphanage except the 'Teachers' and the children. Through various methods they had all been taught to withstand torture, and had the ability to do so to others without batting an eye. Most never had to do so but L had proven that in some cases you must when he interrogated Misa Amane…

The white haired boy gave him a look that if Scott didn't know better he would have called smug. And maybe he should, the boy knew he was reporting his school activities to Rodger and Near had CLEARLY been talking to someone. Now if only he would contribute what was in his head to what was in Scott's and just make it easier on both of them, but as it was, talking to Near in their apartment was like pulling teeth. He'd make sure to report that too. Not like Rodger really cared. And it wasn't like Scott really cared either. It had originally been a plan to torture his 'classmate' but it had backfired when Ruevy had put them together. And even then it wouldn't have been so bad… But Kira had to come around _days_ after they had gotten settled in.

Rodger obviously didn't like him. Though… He didn't like any children and Scott had always thought he was a joke. He was way too old to be running the orphanage anymore and needed to just pass it to a younger individual. Preferably C. Or even K for that matter… She was a little crazy sometimes, but she could handle it… She had been stronger than many of the other 'children'. Hell. A had killed himself and B just as good as did…

Ah… B… Now there was an old memory… He had been two when Beyond had found him… All he remembered was blood all over the place and that his parents were dead… And being surrounded by water on all sides for _days_… Then a dark figure had found him and taken him from the boat, half starved and delirious. When he finally woke up there was a man there that told him the facts of how he had been found as if a child his age should understand. And he had. Suprisingly well. Beyond had recognized right away that there was a spark of something in the child and had tried to work with him, keeping him a secret from the orphanage for an entire year. A year in which he never spoke a word. And B hadn't forced him to, knowing that Scott understood so well that if he wished to speak he would.

He had silently helped him on some of his cases, and when Beyond had finally decided the Wammy house would take him in, he took him to Watari directly. And in the beginning he had been rejected instantly, passed off as being autistic since he never smiled, never laughed, and never spoke. Most autistic children were brilliant when it came to numbers and such, but without certain thought patterns, they were useless to the orphanage.

It took another year of working with him before Beyond was able to prove that he was in fact just the kind of child they could use.

Watari never fully accepted him since he was brought in by someone other than the ones that were instructed to find them. And when he considered successors, Scott never even crossed his mind, making him rather bitter towards everyone but B (and Matt because the other red haired boy didn't care about who brought him in at all).

The only time he had ever met L was not really a meeting in the definition of the word. All the children had gathered around a laptop that Watari held in his lap. Most of the children had crowded around, asking questions that L answered. L had a voice changer and only displayed an old English L on the screen, where as he had a camera to see the children asking the questions. When a bold one asked who he thought his successor would be, L had told them without looking at their scores or knowing them, that it would be either Mello or Near… And when asked why, he responded that those two had not asked any questions, leaving the others to do so for them and had only observed the other children from the other side of the room. Little did he know that there was a child sitting behind Watari, able to see the front of the children's faces, even the ones in the back without being truly seen himself by the others in the room, and defiantly not by the scrambled voice on the other end of the camera…

He realized after a moment that he was smiling softly to himself, and he let the expression leave as the dark eyes stayed on him.  
"What are you thinking?" he asked his white haired roommate, wondering why he was staring.

The boy looked down at his hands where he had little finger puppets on a few of them, "I was wondering what L would do…" he half whispered, and when he looked closely he saw that Near had one for himself and Kira. The same ones he had used twice now… Then he noticed that he had a rather unhappy looking one with narrow blue eyes and a shock of red hair, making him want to roll his eyes. Near was such a visual and kinesthetic learner. All Scott had to do was close his eyes and think to learn, able to basically experiment in his head using probabilities and reason.

"L would want you to stop thinking like L and try thinking like N. You are N aren't you?" Scott spat, hating that Near couldn't even think like himself.

The black eyes shot up and he freely glared at him. Good. Near could use some more emotion.

"You heard me. You're not L. You will never be L. A wasn't L. B wasn't L. M wasn't L. I'm sure as hell not L. T's not L. None of us are L. It was hard for you to ignore C-Kira a few years back wasn't it? You know why? Because you don't feel the same way as L. You don't know what L would do. And he sure as hell wouldn't have ignored the presence of a DeathNote in Japan. Sure he only took on interesting cases, but he had a sense of justice and would have understood that just because it was in the hand of a dumb ass, doesn't mean it couldn't have easily changed hands to someone with the mind more like Light Yagami. You should count yourself lucky he didn't do just that and killed himself instead…"

Near calmly set down his toys, a fire in his eyes that said he was pissed.

"You can't know what L would do either. You didn't even like him. You didn't like anyone. And I don't care if you don't like me. But L was the most brilliant detective that has probably ever existed on earth. It can't really hurt for me to think like someone that was smarter than the two of us put together…"

Scott chuckled, leaning back in his seat, "See? I knew you could talk," he purred, aggravating him intentionally and Near knew it, earning him another hateful glare.

He turned his chair, going back to the background check on Nina that he had barely started and he heard the rustle of material as his roommate silently left the room. He thought he had completely left the study when he felt a few things hit him in the back of the head. He turned and looked, seeing a flash of a white sleeve as Near left the room completely. When he looked at what had hit him, he was surprised to find all three of the other boy's finger puppets. It was as much of an acceptance to his challenge as it was surrender. He was going to start thinking on his own huh? This would be interesting…

Scott knew from looking at his card tower mazes that Near never half did anything, so he knew the great detective N would be a different person here in a few days and he was eager to see the changes unfold, curious as to who Near really was…


	17. Chapter 17

***Author's Note***

I am trying to make up for all the month's I've gone without updating, and I was starting  
some of my outlines when I noticed that many of the characters weren't as fully  
understood as I'd like them to be. So this one is another chapter with another's POV part  
the way in… So~ yeah. If any of you have any questions about ANY of the characters, just  
ask in a review (hint hint) or if it makes you feel better, shoot me a PM and I will try to  
answer any questions by working the answers into the next chapter. I'll keep doing it for  
the next chapters too. Unless it spoils the story~

Right so I have two new fans! (Both of which my phone told me about btw!)  
(So I get your reviews and questions in real time… plus or minus FF's Mailing delay)  
So thank you to:  
Akatsukilover34 & wildface02

I just broke 30 alerters/favoriters/reviewers!  
How does that make you all feel? Especially all of you that have been with me from the beginning…

THANK YOU!  
~Gebrelle

***End Note***

Nina searched through the bags she brought in from getting groceries for the house, looking around for more things to put in the fridge with a bag of chips in her mouth for Light. He seemed to like them and Nina figured it would be in her best interests to keep her death god happy. Especially since he had already informed her that she would die when he wrote her name in his DeathNote… Nina could only hope that if she stuffed him with enough chips that it wouldn't be a heart attack he chose… That just sounded painful…

When she got finished with putting them away she stuck her head into the study, watching her father curiously, able to see the light on his screen illuminating his face, and since was wearing headphones she knew he was watching an anime of some kind.

She smiled and flipped the lights on, and grinning as she watched him pause his show, pulling off his head phones, "What's up, Kitten?"

She grinned, "I got groceries. Tacos sound good?"

He chewed his lip, looking at something on the screen, "Got something that won't mess up my stomach? Like~ Spaghetti?"

He sounded hopeful and she shook her head, "Sure Da, Spaghetti it is then"

He only nodded happily, putting his headphones, the signal the conversation was over and she flipped his light back off, signaling in return that that was all she had wanted, and she carried the bag of chips to the bed room, closing the door and pressing her forehead to it, glad she wouldn't have to deal with Scott for the rest of the day. And if she was honest with herself, she was skipping breakfast from now on if he was going to be there. No matter how hungry she was… No… She couldn't do that. Then he'd realize she was intentionally avoiding him… That redhead was actually really sharp and she really did need to find out more about Nathen, even if she had to deal with the FBI agent that seemed way too young to be on a case this big… Scratch that. Both were agents… Damn…

She pulled out her phone… Speaking of, she'd have to tell Anne.

'I'd scratch the white one. He's got a card.'

She didn't really remember when they made their lingo and most of it had gone unused until now. It was nice though to not have to worry about creating one now and take the chance of being misunderstood. _Especially _now that their very lives were at stake. And if she or Anne didn't fully understand a phrase, they could ask clarifying questions.

It wasn't long until she got a reply.

'Are you serious?'

Anne wasn't looking for a reply; she was obviously just as confused as Nina was… If not more so since she liked him so much…

* * *

Anne tucked her phone away and sat quietly with her hands folded neatly in her lap, her back strait and ankles crossed. Just like the good girl she had been taught to be. Her dress was fitting for the occasion and had been tailored to fit her. Her shoes were shined and her hair was done in simple yet flattering ringlets that fell around her shoulders.

The chair she sat in had looked comfortable at first, but was overstuffed as per usual in expensive suits… So, contrary to its looks, it was probably the most uncomfortable chair in the room. Not that she was going to show her discomfort. She had been taught better than that. She was a 'lady' after all. Which is why she kept her mouth shut as the men in the family had their conversation as the other women stayed quiet. It wasn't a thing of 'Knowing your place' or such; it was just how the family did their business… Or so she continued to tell herself…

Very soon the men left to get a drink and smoke a cigar on the balcony, leaving the women together in the sitting room.

"Marsha dear, your daughter is growing to be such a fine lady," as if she wasn't in the room…

"How are her studies coming along?"

"Is she still going to that dreaded public school?"

More voices… More questions…

"Anne dear, why don't you play us one of the songs your instructor taught you?" She looked up from where she had been examining the carpet.

"Yes mother…" she spoke softly, standing and moving to the piano. Why did there have to be one here? Why couldn't they talk about something that wasn't her? Like how awful the tea tasted…

She smoothed her skirt as she sat with grace, stretching her fingers but being careful not to pop then in delicate company. She chose a random soft but flowing song that she knew she could play all the way through, making sure to choose one complicated enough that the others were impressed and her mother could be proud. There was a little conversation over her playing and her tutor but she finally faded into the background like the music she was playing.

She would have given anything to have gone to school instead of playing tea party with a few rich men's wives who smelled of too much expensive perfume and dry cleaned clothes.

Anne kept the song going by repeating certain stanzas, always mixing them up so that it didn't sound repeated, her mind finally going as numb as her fingers, muscle memory making the song as smooth as silk, no matter how she chose to change it. Her mother had forced her to take piano lessons since she was four, though her mother was unaware that she was unwilling since she had initially loved it, though when she got older she had to force herself to go, unable to embarrass her mother after watching Nina go through what it was like to lose hers.

She cherished her mother and father, even if she put her on a shelf like a pretty doll and he put her in a dress to stand by a man… She knew they loved her… She was their only child after all…

She wanted to be the heir of the company but she wasn't sure that would ever happen, since she was a girl. He was probably going to give it to the man she married someday. Though that would mean he would have to be a business man that her father approved of. Basically leaving him to choose her husband. It would basically be an arranged marriage… Not that anyone would call it that. The story they told their kids would be that she met him when he was doing business with her father and they went on a few dates, decided they wanted to get married and did. None of it would be a lie. Because that's what would happen. She didn't want to be given away as a side note to ownership of the company, because that's basically what it would be. Few men's eyes would actually be on her. Most would be on the Garren company name.

She could always run away. Or so she told herself. Find the right guy, get married and live a little life alone with her hubby and kids. But really… That was impractical. It would shame her family and she would never be welcome again…

She began to repeat the song again and noticed a lull in the conversation, "If I may ask… Does anyone have a request?" She asked pleasantly, continuing her tea party.


	18. Chapter 18

***Author's Note***

Hey guys! I almost have 50 reviews! That means you should all review!

Please! I want them! They are my food! And I am a starving artist… I need anything  
I can get… So… Review please!

***End Note***

Chapter 18

Nina's phone ringing was what woke her up. An annoying little chime to anyone trying to sleep that told her over and over that she had a text message.

Kira kneaded her cheek with his paws when she didn't look at it right away. His way of telling her that it was bothering him, and she should make it stop. She grumbled and slid her thumb across the screen. Sure touch screen was neat but at four thirty in the morning, as her alarm clock read, it was difficult to make her fingers behave enough to NOT click everything else.

It was a text from Anne telling her she had managed intelligence on Antonio but had come up with nothing but traces for Scott and Nathen. Making it dangerous to try again… All of this was coded but it was easy enough for her figure out even in her half awake state.

She tossed it back off her bed and into her laundry hamper and, rather suddenly, the dark crowded around her, making her feel claustrophobic, like she was in a tiny hiding place…

All of the sudden she was…

There was the sound of breaking glass, and a man in black, wearing an odd red and blue mask, stepped through the busted window just as she closed the cupboard doors, drawing attention against all her intentions. The cabinet was tiny and she was curled up tightly where her mother had told her to hide. Her eyes had just adjusted to the dark when the doors were pulled open making her squeak and try to scoot further away from the masked man. There was a loud noise from further in the house that drew the attention of the man who closed her back in and slid something heavy in front of the doors.

Daddy would let her out. He'd come back from his meeting and he'd make the man leave and help mommy… he had too… mommy had looked sad and scared when she told her to hide…

There was a scream and she tried her hardest to get out, crying out for her mother and father, scared of the sounds she heard from without. After a long time of trying to get out she curled into a tiny ball, waiting for her parents to get her. She didn't know how long she had been there. Only knowing she was really hungry and had nodded off once before she heard her father come in, announcing he was home like always. She was about to call out for him when she heard him exclaim, calling her mother's name desperately and it was only a moment before his panicked voice had called out for her and she yelled for him, never expecting what had put the fear in his voice.

Once he had let her out he crushed her to his chest, murmuring reassurances as he rocked back and forth, his shoulders shaking hard, she couldn't understand what he was saying and after a few minutes of holding her, he fished for his cell phone, dialing 911 and reported in a shaky and broken voice that he had returned from his business trip to find his wife dead. Within minutes the house was full of police and other uniforms. Only once did she escape her father's protective hold to find her mother. Yes. She did indeed find her… and the image of her lying face down in her own blood jolted Nina awake again and she whined, getting out of her bed quickly so she wouldn't drift off again, finding her way through the dark to her father's study.

He wasn't there but she knew he was in the house. He had never left her alone in the house since that night, only going out if she was at school or something. She passed his computer on her way to the door on the other side and slipped in, hearing a light snore from his bed as she crawled up into it, slipping under the covers and snuggling close.

He stirred and blinked at her curiously, "Kitten? Something wrong?"

She shook her head, hiding in his covers and he hummed soothingly as he fell back asleep. He knew she had nightmares and… it made her feel childish when she ran to him when a dream scared her, but it was extremely rare that she had bad dreams when she was in his room.

She woke up surprisingly on time, and as she tried to slip out of her father's room unnoticed, he caught her not letting her go.

"Da~ I have to go to school~" she giggled, loving when he acted cute.

"Five more minutes?" he mumbled, and she laughed again, finally escaping.

"Love you Dad. I have volunteer work after school so I'll see you later," she shook her head, ignoring the shadow of the Death God as she passed him in the hall.

"You know… I used to talk to Ryuk all the time. You barely speak to me…" he sounded curious and she shrugged, not replying until she was safely in the bathroom.

"Do you want me to talk to you more? I'm just afraid that I'll answer you in public if I get too used to you…"

He didn't reply, thinking about it… Or something else… She didn't know. Light was extremely hard to read.

She had gotten used to him and no longer cared to dress around him since he was practically a ghost after all… so she didn't hesitate to just hop into the shower, even with him in there with her.

Nina had gotten her hair lathered up and was about to rinse it out when a thought occurred to her.

"Light? Who is Ryuk? Was he your Death God?"

There was a long pause, "Yes. Why?"

"I was just making sure… Did he kill you? Is that why you don't like him?"

The pause was unsurprisingly longer this time, "Yes that's one reason. I had been caught by N… It was Mikami's fault… If he had done as I told him…" Light sounded pissed and she wondered if she should continue asking questions or if she should leave it alone, but he took a deep breath continuing as she showered, "And now he has the nerve to drop his note near mine…" Light fumed silently for a moment. "Ryuk is only in it for amusement. That's his catch phrase and all. Humans are so amusing…" A small growl left the god and he messed with things on her sink.

After a few minutes she got out and wrapped a towel around her, talking to him quietly about how to identify a Death Note user if she saw one. Light informed her though that she had it easier than him. She just had to find another individual without a lifespan. In fact… He compared her to Misa. Which she didn't appreciate… she realized though that he hadn't meant it in a bad way when he explained how Misa had found out his identity before he had found hers, proving that she was intelligent deep inside.

She wanted to ask him a thousand questions about the things that had happened. Things that she couldn't find online. Things that everyone had wanted to know. Things only she could understand now that she was living the life of Kira.

All too soon however, she had to catch the bus and when she got on, Anne was there again. Just as she should be…


	19. Chapter 19

*** Author's Note ***

So Hey~! It's been forev's since I updated. I was kinda stuck on a plot piece.  
I fixed that though! And last time I updated I did something I haven't done in  
forever! I forgot my Thank You's! Can you believe that?  
So anyway! Thank you to: LightNote16, Lupin de Sadigo Uno, apocalypses, Kasumi Uchiha,  
Nichole Schlapkohl, & togatoga23!  
Thanks for all my reviews too! Anyway, brother-in-law is rushing me so I  
can cook dinner!

Write a review and it's like texting me! It will make me love you more!

If I get at least 5 reviews for this chapter, I will upload the pics I have of Nina, Anne, and Light as a shinigami!  
Its not much but there it is! Enjoy!

~Gebrelle

** End Note ***

Chapter 19

"Sorry I sent that text so early this morning. I really wasn't thinking about the time when I wrote it. See, I didn't get any sleep at all last night…" Anne smiled a big smile as she spoke looking for the world like she had received all the beauty sleep a person needed to be perky, not a hair out of place on her best friend. "And guess what else I did this morning?" she asked, and without giving her a chance to reply she continued, "I ordered your Halloween costume~!"

She was practically bouncing in her seat and Nina sighed, shaking her head, "What is it this time?"

"Well, you know this year's dance is a Masquerade right?" She hadn't known so she raised an eyebrow, prompting her to continue, "All I'm going to tell you is that it will be perfect for the dance and you will love it. And it won't kill you to not know something for… what? Two and a half weeks? Because I'm not letting you have it until the dance." She stuck out her tongue at Nina as if it sealed the point; her satisfied smile telling her she would like it. Anne knew just what she liked, and if her best friend was that sure she would like it, then she knew she would so she tried not to let it bother her. Even though she hated not knowing things.

Nina's mind started wandering when Anne pulled out her smart phone, navigating surprisingly easily with her long nails. Something she herself could never keep up. It's not that she chewed them off… Just that she couldn't stand to let them get that long since it made her fingers slip off the keys and hit other ones while she was hacking.

"Your lover boy eats breakfast with me in the morning," she poked, hating how boring the bus ride normally was.

"What? Really? Tell me more you little hussy~!" just as she had expected, Anne fell into step, accusing her of trying to steal her man, and they picked at each other all in jest until her friend looked like she just remembered something.

"Listen, listen, listen! Mom wants me to learn another instrument besides piano, so I have to find a tutor," Nina blinked, not knowing why this was such big news, "There's a boy that goes to our school that's been labeled a musical genius and he gives lessons. He's super cute and is going to teach us."

Nina chuckled and shook her head before the last word hit her. "Us? Anne I told you…"

Anne continued as if she hadn't spoken, "He's super cute and super smart. He also drives to school. It's not a sports car but a completely restored antique…" She continued rambling.

"Anne. Anne. Anne. Anne…" She tried to get a word in edge wise, "Anne! I can't. And for the same reason I'm not fencing this year. I have to keep up my grades. You want us to go to the same college don't you? That means I'll need as many scholarships as I can get. And with a GPA like mine…"

"Which is what? 3.85?"

"3.82… but that's not the point…"

"Look. Go with me tomorrow. If you never go again, at least go tomorrow. I told the guy both of us would show up… And plus. You used to play flute… A violin shouldn't be a problem for you… Please~?"

For her to have brought up Nina's flute it meant she really wanted her to go. It had been her mother that had wanted her to learn. Even as young as she had been. And she had kept with it growing up. Learning on her own at a very slow pace, but she could play beautifully on it, even if she never used it for anything but to annoy her father…

Anne knew it was a sensitive subject and to have mentioned it meant she was desperate to get her to go.

"Fine. One day. If I think it's going to affect my grades I'm dropping it like it bit me okay?"

"Yay~!" She was suddenly hugged tightly around her head and she struggled to get away after it was clear she couldn't breathe.

When she finally escaped her best friend's hold she straightened her clothes, talking the rest of the time to her about Nathen, violins, and Halloween masquerades.

After they arrived Anne ran off, promising over her shoulder to start eating breakfast with her beginning tomorrow, it's not like it mattered, she had only just started eating breakfast there herself.

Nina found herself sitting in front of Nathen and Scott once again, trying to keep the conversation away from anything they had discussed the day before.

"So where are you two from before you transferred here?" Nina asked, just trying idle chitchat, knowing whatever they told her was probably a lie.

Nathen mumbled something about having moved around a lot but Scott wasn't going to cooperate, "Tell us about your life instead." Not a question. A statement… One that said 'I already know. I just want to hear you tell it.'

"Well… I live with my dad… I have a cat… I ride the bus to school… um… I don't know. There's nothing really interesting about me…" What was he getting at?

Nathen looked up from some kind of magnetic sticks he was connecting, "Where's your mother?" Scott looked at him curiously but looked back to her, expecting her to answer.

"She's dead. It was a long time ago."

That should have been the end of it but Scott's gaze never faltered, "How?"

She had to resist the urge to grit her teeth, her eyes narrowing on the obviously cold bastard in front of her. She knew he had done a background check on her. That's just the kind of person he was. "She was murdered when I was little, and they never caught her killer. That's all there is to it."

"If you knew who killed her, would you kill him?"

"What kind of question is that!" she snapped back, refusing to let him trick her into admitting that she'd be willing to take anyone's life, "That would make me just as bad as him wouldn't it?"

He gave her an odd look that made her feel he was trying not to smirk, "I'd kill the person that murdered my parents," he stated simply and she could only gape at him, unsure of whether she should accept the challenge he laid out there.

"I want to see him put to justice. The punishment for his crimes is the death sentence. I would sleep easier knowing he was dead. That doesn't mean I wish to do the deed myself." She was lying but she hoped he couldn't tell. There was nothing she wanted more than to kill the man that shredded her family. She wanted him to be beaten within an inch of his life and as he begged for mercy, she wanted to slit his throat and hear him drown in his blood.

It was then she noticed her expression mirrored his; he hadn't been lying when he said he was an orphan, and he was obviously living through the many tortures he wished to slay his parents' killer with as well.

Nina's eyes flickered to the quiet white haired boy sitting by his much more menacing looking counterpart. He hadn't missed the connection but he didn't comment, only looking at her with his big dark eyes.

Scott was thinking just what Nina probably thought he was. He wasn't really even paying attention to the cafeteria around him as he let his eyes lose focus on the colorful cereal in front of him.

He honestly didn't remember much about his parents' death but he did remember their murderer.

He was tall and had a long black pony tail pulled back to the base of his neck. The man had also worn a mask that covered the lower part of his face. It was a biker's mask and was probably supposed to be patriotic, because it was a red and blue pattern.

He had found an exact copy of it in a local bike shop when he had tried research himself. It had been a dead end but he kept it with him, knowing that there were hundreds of others out there that had one, but one of them was the man that killed his parents. That's all he needed. He would find him someday and kill him. He'd make him suffer through tortures that would make even Near cringe.

Honestly, he wanted to know more about Nina's mother's killer for one reason.

The mask that Nina remembered was the exact description of the one that haunted his childhood memories as well…

*** Reviews are like texting! DO IT***


	20. Chapter 20

***Author's Note***

It took me a long time to write this chapter even though it doesn't look like it…  
Honestly, normally when I write a chapter, it's all in one go. Or two… and it just takes  
me a long time to get around to actually writing it. This time however took me five or six  
times… But really I have plenty of good excuses… I went on a short vacation two  
hundred miles from where I live so I drove there. Bad idea since I wrecked my car…  
(RIP Malibu…) And then I finally got a job since I think I shared that Subway fired me…  
Anyway… I am now an employee of Walmart… So yay~ But that means even less time  
to write. I will try to keep up posting since I know I'm currently mad at some of my  
favorite fanfiction authors for not posting in a couple months. I know it kills me. And I  
secretly hope that there are some of you out there that stalk my story updates like I do  
theirs… I mean… I have their alerts sent to my phone after all…

Anyway~ So apparently I forgot to add my list of Thank You's last time. I have an  
excuse for that again. I took my laptop to a wifi hot spot but didn't bring my charger.  
I realized just before I published the chapter that it must have come unplugged at my  
house because my battery was almost dead…

Right. So where was I? Thank You:  
xXKiraXx101 & CandyCornQueen

I Love reviews! Really! My muses eat them for lunch and dinner and stuff… But they tend to starve occasionally…

Chapter 20

The world sped by faster as Nina tightened her hold on the throttle and leaned forward, cutting air resistance as she picked up speed, spraying gravel as she almost took a turn too fast on one of the deserted streets. She would only admit it to herself but she was probably a little _too_ familiar with the back streets…

An alley caught her eye, one she hadn't been down in a long time so she cut through it, having to slow down significantly but not caring. The graffiti was worth the loss of the rush since it was always changing, always growing… Occasionally a brave building owner would repaint over all of the vandalism only to have the walls covered again faster than most would find possible.

There were always more teens that joined the groups that went 'tagging' and it wasn't surprising that their ranks filled faster than the police could catch them. Most that got caught only turned around and started tagging again as soon as they got a hold of a can of spray paint.

It was illegal, yes, but, to Nina, it was one of the most beautiful things in this city that was full of drug users, gang members, and homeless. It was ironic that the things she didn't like about the city were the things that created her favorite part…

It was also perhaps a little ironic that she, Kira, liked things that were rather illegal… Graffiti, racing, killing people…

She shook her head as she looked over the wall. There were territory marks, bored teenager marks, as well as odd symbols that homeless used to help each other out. She could tell the difference between what each meant and had, on occasion, met a few of the artists that had marked many of her favorite places.

She cut her engine and pulled out her sketch pad. She had a couple hours to blow before she had to be at the station so she decided drawing was how she intended to waste some of her wait time.

She stood there around twenty minutes working on the basic layout of the wall, making sure the largest marks were in scale when she noticed at the corner of all the marks was a little ship, one that was obviously meant to look like the ones at the bottom of Maria's work. She reflexively took a step back, completely unnerved by the simple little addition.

Did someone want her to draw the alley? Was someone daring her to? Was it a rude gesture? Was it meant as a compliment? A warning? A joke?

She decided not to draw it, taking a picture of it with her phone instead, sending it instantly to Anne. She didn't know what was meant, but she didn't like it.

Leaving the unknown message behind her, she went on ahead to the police station so she could get in a few extra hours of community service. She wasn't in any hurry though and continued to take every back road she knew there, managing to double her travel time even as she traveled top speed through narrow alleys.

She slowed down when she had to get on the main roads close to the station, and by then she was in a much better mood, the strange mark in the alley practically forgotten; she felt like she was ready to take on anything…

As soon as she cut her engine and pulled off her helmet her eyes connected with a pair of ice blue ones.

"Nina," Scott seemed to purr, "Nice bike you've got there…"

Of course… things always seemed to happen this way…

She grinned sheepishly, keeping in mind that she was still pretending to keep her bike a secret, "Thanks…"

"So this is what you typically drive? Your Ducati could probably beat the bikes around here in a race…" he trailed off with a smirk that Anne would have paid for, "Provided you could even keep it upright over eighty five…"

"What do you know?" She snapped before she could bite her tongue. No one insulted her riding abilities. No one that she was ever around on her bike these days anyway… She was too used to getting the respect her Ducati had earned her in the race last November, so she wasn't used to being so blatantly called out.

His eyebrows rose at that, "Oh? And pray tell; why have you even had it above sixty?"

She wanted to glue her mouth shut, "I plead the fifth…"

He just shook his head but watched her as she dug out her shoulder bag before heading towards him since he was in the way, blocking the front doors with his presence, "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing here?"

"Aren't you going to ask me if I care?" she replied, glad that Light seemed to have disappeared again since he would defiantly feel he must inform her that it was best to make ones enemies like them…

He actually laughed for a moment, "Okay, that's fair, but I'm sharing anyway. I'm here because of…" he paused as if thinking about it before pointing to her, "you."

Nina's reply was to roll her eyes as she walked past him, "I'm flattered. But I'm going to have to decline…"

He sighed dramatically as he turned to follow her in, "You are well programmed… but that's my very point. We can help each other."

To Nina, it seemed like he thought about adding something but decided against it… "Unless you've been demoted and are now my rank, which, I'll add, is coffee fetcher, then I doubt you'll be much help." She wasn't denying that she could help him. Not that she even planned on telling him anything that would help in the Kira case, but she was certainly not useless.

He stopped walking and crossed his arms, "Fine. I'll promote you."

If he thought she would stop walking, he was wrong, "I'm not on the pay roll. 'Volunteer' means slave labor. Remember?" She refused to let him think she was enthusiastic about joining him.

"How about civilian consultant then?" A soft voice asked as Near's shape disconnected from the doorframe in front of them, effectively trapping her between the two strange 'special agents'.

She pretended to think about it, "You want me for slave labor as well huh? Hell, why not?"

She could feel Scotts glare, he had been pretending to be nice and she had seen through it. Nina knew he didn't like her and that he would never need her or admit that he did as long as he was thinking for himself. Near however… He probably couldn't care less if she joined or not, though it did seem he would prefer to have another's educated deductions to add to his and Scott's. She would work for him, not the red head and she was making it clear.


	21. Chapter 21

***Author's Note***

So there I was right? On facebook when apparently I learned that most people that know  
me don't know that I write. They all know I draw mind you… My Composition 1010  
professor in college told the class the other day that people don't think about writing  
every day. Apparently, it's just not something humans do. And if you do, that you are  
typically so wrapped up in it that you estrange yourself from others… I think about  
Kira Again and all my other works almost constantly. I'll be driving down the road and  
see a motorcycle, first though is: Nina's bike could beat that. Every time I… Exploit a  
computer system, every time I look at a piece of paper… I want to write! I got to thinking  
about it… I am introverted, but I don't think I'm as bad as F. Scott Fitzgerald or anything  
like that… But still… I'm here in the library at the college really bored so I'm rambling…

ANYWAY~! Thank you to:  
livelaughloveanddance, Mangafreak666, and epsilon762!  
Especially the first two who left reviews~! I love you guys~!

Bah… I'm done rambling now. Enjoy.

***End Note***

Chapter 21

"Sit down." Scott sighed, leaning against the wall in the small grey room. It only had a table and a couple of chairs and Nina was pretty sure it was typically used for interrogations and she didn't really like being trapped in there with her two mortal enemies that still had no clue…

"We're only going to brief you once so pay attention," Scott leveled his light blue eyes at her and she wanted to squirm as she sat, Near sitting in the floor beside where Scott stood, making himself look rather small in his white clothes and Nina wondered for a moment how he kept his clothes clean if he sat on the floor so often.

"I've watched the news…"

"Then you know nothing." Scott snapped and Nina's eyes narrowed, she'd like to write his real name on a page of the little notebook she kept in her bag…

"Fine. We'll say I know nothing. Brief me." She was resisting the urge to roll her eyes when she felt the air stir behind her. Light was back. Great, now she'd have to watch her mouth.

Scott shrugged but began, "As you know, Kira is back, and like the original Kira, this one kills people all hours of the day." Nina knew that. She was the one that killed them after all, prewriting names in the DeathNote so that the killings continued every hour, on the hour, even as she sat there with them, giving an entirely new feeling when her watched beeped the passing of an hour.  
"We've also determined that this Kira is female." Nina raised an eyebrow at this piece of information. She wasn't sure how they decided that but she was surprised none the less. "And like you pointed out earlier, the killer is defiantly in the Eastern Time zone. We've censored as much media content as possible to help bock some of Kira's abilities to find victims." Nina nodded as she listened, knowing this part.

"Yesterday, this would have been all we told you…" Near spoke softly and Scott looked down at him, nudging him with his foot.

"If you wanted to do the briefing then you should have started speaking from the beginning," Sometimes Scott was rude to Near and she wondered what that was about since they were supposed to be working together…

Near met Scott's gaze and he set down the miniature Transformer figure he had been playing with, "I was the one who originally noticed the shift in the pattern, aren't I the one with the rights to speak of it?"

Scott rolled his eyes, "You know what? Fine. Talk away."

Nina watched the exchange curiously, noticing that Near didn't seem to care much for Scott but it seemed Scott really disliked Near.

Dark eyes met hers for a long moment before he finally spoke again as if picking his words, "We want you to look at some information with us and tell us what you think."

She nodded and put her hand on the stack of papers on the desk, "These?"

They both nodded and she opened the first file, flipping through them for information she didn't know, taking in a lot of things. They had the names of most of her victims but not all of them, they also had a few that they weren't sure if she had killed, some were her doing, others were just common heart attacks. She began noticing though that the later killings seemed… wrong…

"Why does Kira start out killing people on the hour and then move to killing on the hour and randomly?" This was either fake information or the second DeathNote Light had spoken of… Most likely the latter…

Near nodded and looked back to Scott as Nina flipped through the other papers, noting just what was censored and how, doing her best not to smirk as she saw a blaringly obvious hole in their set up. She would jump all over that when she got back to the house… "You're right. She is smart. It took me a few days of looking over the list to notice the pattern shift." Of course she had noticed it, she knew who and when she killed after all…

She shrugged, setting the file down. "So is she trying to throw you off, or is there the chance of a second killer?" She needed to know how much they knew but she didn't want them to catch the second Kira before she could find them.

"There's something else that wasn't in the papers there… All of the people murdered off the hour were related to children. Child molesters, child pornography manufacturers, child murderers…"

"Trash like that…"

Near had trailed off and Scott had decided to finish the thought with his own.

"The killer of these has an obviously different… taste… than the first one who mostly kills murderers."

She nodded, taking it in. The second Kira couldn't be so bad if he protected children so fiercely…

"The second Kira sees themselves as the child's protector, but because of that it would be hard to lure him or her out. It is past inhumane to use a child as any kind of bait, therefore we are hoping they will pick another group of criminals to be interested in as well… It is probable that the second Kira is a female as well considering a mother's naturally protective instincts over children…"

This was annoying. She would have hoped that the second Kira possessed half a brain. If she had been the second Kira, she would have timed her killings along with the first's so that she could use the other as camouflage. She wasn't expecting the other killer's actions to be so blatantly different from hers. It made no sense unless they did it on purpose… or just didn't care… hell, maybe they were just that dumb…

Light was grumbling about Ryuke and how stupid he was and it was making it hard to think especially when he deviated to the subject of potato chips occasionally.

"Anything else I should know?" she sighed, rubbing her forehead, trying to push back the headache that was starting there again.

"I can't think of anything… You Near?" Near was sitting on the floor playing with his hair again, seeming lost in thought until Scott spoke his name.

"No… not really… Do you have anything to add, Nina?"

Nina shook her head, "Only that I noticed the death rate dropped per hour after you did the mass censorship… If I were Kira, I would be frustrated…" And she was too…

"That's why we did it. If she gets desperate enough she'll make a misstep in her attempt to find names and faces of her victims." Names? Who needed those if she had faces? At least that was one good thing; they didn't know she had the eyes…

"Well, look guys, I'll give it some thought and you keep me updated, but I have to go home. Dad was expecting me to come straight home after my volunteer work, not get briefed on the Kira case. So I've got to go…" She didn't have a curfew but she didn't want to just awkwardly sit in the interrogation room while everyone brainstormed about her next movements…

"That's fine then. We'll see you at school tomorrow."

She grabbed her bag and left, wasting no time, throwing her things into the bags on her bike, and kicking up the kickstand as she pulled on her helmet, taking off in the direction of home. She wasn't really paying attention as she drove, the information on the case about the second Kira swimming through her head. Perhaps that's why, when she checked her mirrors, she was surprised to see that she was surrounded by other cyclists, the bikes around her ranging from large Harleys to laid back Choppers to thin Hondas. They were all around her, and she found herself too intrigued to not just go with the flow of where they were headed so when they all pulled off at a red light into an empty parking lot she went too. Everyone pulled in at an angle she recognized. It was to make it so that if cops showed up, the group could easily pull out in almost a spiral design, keeping most from being blocked in. She ended up with a decent parking spot and looked around, most got off their bikes but some stayed seated with their engine running so she stayed on hers. Again, most took off their helmets but many kept theirs on. The ones that took theirs off were wearing lower face masks that she had seen a few times during races; they kept your lower face from getting chapped by the wind or getting bugs in your teeth. In this case though it hid people's identities from one another. Everyone but her. She could still see their names with only the bottom half of their faces covered.

She repositioned restlessly as they divided themselves into groups, finding friends when she was still alone. While moving though, she bumped her throttle, revving her engine accidently and causing the whole place to follow suit, many cheering and making a ruckus while others cussed, some liking the power show while others took it as a challenge. She had her bike toned down between races and her muffler kept the bike from really even getting loud. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on but any of her questions were soon answered as a tall man circled his Vulcan into the center of the crowd, cutting his engine so the others could hear him speak even though he didn't remove his helmet.

"Friday, the day after tomorrow, we are holding the preliminaries for the Annual race this November. We will be glad to welcome back last year's winner, Gilded wings, and the runner up on her Ducati…" He nodded to her and she lightly revved her engine, accepting his acknowledgement. So that's what this was. She was lucky to have accidently joined them. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to show up since no one could find a way to get a hold of her… She doesn't typically race outside the main one in November…" Everyone mumbled about that, and she grimaced, not liking that he was already causing drama; he was just bitter that she had beaten his son, pushing him down into third place. Honestly that's why he probably hadn't expected her. No one had made an effort to find her. Her Ducati was hard to miss after all…

"We'll meet on warehouse row and seven is when names will be taken and numbers distributed, those that raced last year will be allowed to use their number from the previous year unless they opt to change it. There will then be a random drawing and bikes will be chosen to race that night. Those who do not show up by seven will not be allowed to race. That is the rules. I'll see you all then."

Nina made a mental note; she was defiantly going to show up on warehouse row early, there was too high of a chance that the ring leader there was going to cause her trouble.

Everyone's bikes were revved to life and they pulled out in the spiral, flocking together until they got to the red light where everyone went their own separate ways.

She headed for home though she took every back road she knew there, sometimes doubling back, shaking the two that she knew would be tailing her.

Finally, she made it home, feeling accomplished knowing that she had lost two rather competent trackers in the back alleys of the city.


End file.
